“Our impatience with sorrow and trauma has seeped into our language and into our culture, so that a victim might hesitate to identify as one. Sometimes I see victims of horrific abuse describe themselves as “survivors.” Fine. However, that word has an embedded positive spin designed to, yes, empower the afflicted. But more often than not, it’s used as a benefit to the listener, to gloss over the evil that was done to make everyone within earshot feel better about the world.”