Healing the Cutting Generation

 

All I was doing was listening.

Okay, so maybe it was more like “overhearing,” but I couldn’t believe my ears. The teens standing near me were talking about whether or not the others “cut.” It was like cutting was the new social networking thing, or even a secret society…a cutting society.

Long ago when I was a teen—it’s silly now—but there was a group in my high school that LOVED the New Kids On The Block. And if you didn’t really, really love that band, you couldn’t hang out with those chicks or be in their clique.

But cutting? This goes way beyond silliness of over brand-name shoes or trendy rock groups. It’s a deep-seated cry for acceptance. Any kind of object is used to pierce the skin to numb the agony of rejection that pierces the heart.

I’m not sure I’ll ever completely understand it, but stacking pain on top of pain helps them forget what hurt first. Suffering from loneliness and bullying, they feel helpless to control anything, so they turn to something they can control.

Want to see more?   Click the link below to Shattered Magazine for the full article!!

https://shatteredmagazine.net/healing-the-cutting-generation/

Article as seen on Shattered Magazine.

[Image via Poppy/flickr]