Self-denial....

我不难过

这不算什么

只是为什么眼泪会流

我也不懂

-Lyrics from Stefanie Sun's "我不难过".

I was listening to Stefanie's "我不难过" the other day. This was the song that got me started on liking Stefanie's songs. It struck me, as it did then, how much the above captioned part of the song reeks of self-denial.

I watched Love Happens yesterday. It was apparent early on in the movie that Burke, the male protagonist, was constantly living in self-denial, that he had not forgave himself for his wife's death in an accident.

The conventional wisdom is that self-denial is the greatest obstacle to a recovery from the trauma, for by acknowledging the trauma, as with any problems, is to give the trauma the due acknowledgment that you do need to do something about. Yet many a time, I wonder if anybody had ever considered that by wallowing in self-denial, one might actually be carrying out damage control, to save the grief for oneself if you would....