Of course, Anthony LaPaglia, who plays lead character Jack Malone on "Without a Trace," is a gifted actor. He brilliantly portrays a man wounded by his mother's suicide and his father's aloofness.
Those emotional holes, as the recovery movement tends to describe the wounds, have made it difficult for Malone to sustain intimacy. He can't hold a marriage together. He toyed with co-worker Sam, then deserted her, and currently is trying to make it work.
In addition, Malone exhibits that classic rebel behavior of those who have been hurt. He was demoted because of his inability to operate within the rules of the FBI. He was pushed into mandatory therapy to explore his reckless choices on the job.
But even LaPaglia's genius wouldn't be able to attract a mainstream audience if our society wasn't ready to embrace those negatives:
- Hurt people frequently hurt others.
- Wounds may never heal.
- Emotional holes tend to bring with them other talents such as unique survival ability. Yes, that lousy childhood might be an advantage, especially in hard economic times.
- Damaged people tend to attract other damaged people.
- The wounded are usually more interesting than the wholesome, well-put-together members of a society.
- Normal may not be a realistic goal for most of suffering mankind.
This is a 180 from when we high achievers were mentored to shape our persona, present ourselves in college admission essays, and go after a job/mate/club membership as a well-rounded person. Our homeroom teacher in the Greenville ghetto of Jersey City, New Jersey strongly recommended we learn to play bridge, get into the habit of reading THE NEW YORK TIMES, and pay for tennis lessons.
Currently, wounds are a plus. I suffer/suffered = added value. The only hitch for us wounded is that the suffering is ours to bear. What 12-step programs, spirituality, and psychotherapy teach us is not to have our hurt hurt others. We tune in to "Without a Trace" weekly to monitor if Malone got that lesson down cold.
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