Holy smokes, I agree. Pain is unavoidable, but trauma (emotional suffering) is calibrated to cultural expectations.
Not to lionize enduring abuse as a badge of honor, but I grew up in the rural American South several decades ago. School paddlings were common in my religious school, as were mouth-washing with soap (for cursing), and forced prayer.
Aside from giving me a distaste for authority and organized religion, I wouldn't regard these things as traumatic.
My Polish friend grew up putting bread-bags in his disintegrating shoes, so that his feet wouldn't freeze. My Salvadoran friend's father was basically scalped alive by drug dealers because he wouldn't serve them in his restaurant.
The upper end of the trauma scale goes far beyond dog biscuits.
Not to lionize enduring abuse as a badge of honor, but I grew up in the rural American South several decades ago. School paddlings were common in my religious school, as were mouth-washing with soap (for cursing), and forced prayer.
Aside from giving me a distaste for authority and organized religion, I wouldn't regard these things as traumatic.
My Polish friend grew up putting bread-bags in his disintegrating shoes, so that his feet wouldn't freeze. My Salvadoran friend's father was basically scalped alive by drug dealers because he wouldn't serve them in his restaurant.
The upper end of the trauma scale goes far beyond dog biscuits.