When the rule of law no longer provides safety

The intersection of grief and identity loss is my topic. It’s brought on by forced change.

That’s what my book MASTERS OF CHANGE is about—reinventing yourself after the rug’s pulled out from under you.

Ever since young adulthood I’m fascinated hearing stories from individuals overcoming adversity.

Truth be told, I was seeking guidance on doing it better myself.

I also wanted to understand how people with much fewer resources than I overcame situations much more dire.

This was late 70s - early 90s.

I’m not a historian AT ALL but these are a few basic truths. This was when:

— Central America was in turmoil with “civil” war.

— A genocide against indigenous communities of Guatemala was taking place, one village at a time.

— The School of the Americas (in the United States) was training Salvadoreans on torture techniques.

— The US government was supporting:

— paramilitaries conducting extrajudicial killings in Colombia and other countries,

— puppet and authoritarian regimes throughout Latin America,

— and the overthrow of a government in Nicaragua after a group of citizens ousted their dictator of 46 years.

That’s just a sampling of what the people I talked to in the 70s - 90s fled from or wanted to escape.

I was trying to figure out why only some had PTSD.

And how they could continue living pretty normal lives with these trauma histories.

And especially, why many seemed happier than I, with all my privilege and protection.

I still don’t know the answer. Except that humans are designed to survive hideous human atrocities.

But we’re also incredibly stupid at recognizing historical patterns and good at repeating our mistakes.

• My book, and my job as speaker and coach, is to help people become competent leaders of their own lives.

So they can stop living on autopilot and settling for mediocrity.

So they can find better paths forward for themselves, their families, and their communities.

So they can have the confidence, strength, and courage to figure things out for themselves and not defer solutions to the professional or the politician.

I haven’t read the news yet today.

Maybe what was in motion last night got thwarted.

But yesterday was the eve of enacting martial law on the streets of my country.

Up until now I’ve lived with the luxury of protection from what so many others have died under, fled from, or are still enduring.

I only have the slightest inkling of what that’s like.

When living in Colombia, with friends in downtown Medellín at night, military trucks would pull up and demand every young man show proof of military service. Those who didn’t got carded off in trucks to start their military service.

What I know for sure is that once authoritarianism takes hold it’s hard to undo.

And I’ve seen its effects in the eyes of the many who shared their stories with me. Those battling grief and identity loss while creating new paths forward.

—Julie