Discussion of "Standing Against Silence: Czeslow Milosz and the Poetry of Witness" by David Shaddock. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020) - Brothers, Doris
ABSTRACT: In this discussion of David Shaddock's beautiful paper, I strongly agree that our patients need us to serve as witnesses for their traumatic experiences. However, my understanding of what makes the role of witness so profoundly challenging differs from Shaddock's. In contrast to Shaddock who believes that traumatized people live in a separate world, I believe that we all live in the same world, one that is wracked by trauma. I also challenge Shaddock's reference to "the third." I find it difficult to think of the act of witnessing in terms of "the third", "the cultural third, " even "a living third."