Hurt People Hurt People

Hurt People Hurt People

By: Talya Langer

They say hurt people hurt people,

But that truth is less a warning than it is an elegy, a worn-out melody

a fable

a factual fiction passed from mouth to mouth.

Like smoke in a closed room, it’s overlooked at first.

It starts quiet.

Unnoticed.

Silently suffocating its victims.

Discreet with underlying distrust.

Once the pain of the perpetrator surfaces,

shining a light on their shredded heart,

you take pity on those who are throwing the punches.

You realize their internal war,

You realize that hurting others eases their pain,

Bringing them some sort of satisfaction in the sense that they now do not have to suffer alone.

Hurt people, hurt people.

It took me a while to realize and accept that statement to be true, because I never understood the concept,

The principle that drove people to punish others.

I don't get it.

But once it’s put into perspective,

I realized how much strength it takes to look at your pain and not make it someone else's burden.

But too often, people run from their own wounds only to create someone else’s.

Too often, anger feels safer than accountability,

and attacking others causes some sort of satisfaction.

Hurt people hurt people.

It’s a warning, it's a rationalization, it’s an excuse.

It’s a concept I will never understand, but one that I am working to comprehend.