Although this post was originally about post-war survivors, the concept of resilience is the survivorship of trauma. Some people have it and some don't, but we aren't sure why. My Dad survived the Battle of Okinawa in WWII after his ship USS Hugh W. Hadley (there is a website) was bombed. We were fortunate to attend several of the reunions and hear the stories that these sailors shared. It was in this shared experience that these sailors had bonded as survivors.
Traumatic events affect everyone, but not everyone displays what we call PTSD. (In the future, terms may change as we learn more and better identify signs and symptoms.) Dad had this resilience and went on to live a wonderful and productive life.
We see this in children as well...some survive poverty, trauma, abuse and become productive citizens and some do not. There is work going on to figure out why and how to develop resilience. Think of hammering nails into a 2X4 and then pulling them out. The holes are still there, but some compromise the integrity of the board and some do not. It affects their learning and their development of social relationships. I could go on and on, but simply wanted to respond to the query with children. Finally, treat everyone with respect. We have no idea what they may have survived.
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