The Beauty in Breaking

Now at the Veteran Affairs Hospital in Philadelphia, Harper has returned to what she considers her true calling: working with patients more regularly, as a “healer” (141). She tells the story of Victoria Honor, a memorable patient who was there to get medically cleared so that she could move into transitional housing and get her life back together. She explained to Harper that while stationed in Afghanistan, not only did she endure incessant verbal abuse by her sergeant, but he also raped her, and then she was raped again by a private who befriended her under false pretenses. She later became pregnant and had an abortion.

Victoria’s story reminded Harper of her own pain and long path toward emotional recovery: “Only in leaving that house did I come to know in my bones that the peril in being silenced was far greater than that of living loud enough to shatter those walls and bring the whole house down” (151). Victoria’s story broke her heart, especially because the men who raped her were not held accountable. However, even after unimaginable pain and trauma, Victoria was ready to move on with her life. As Harper puts it, Victoria’s “strength was a true testament to human mettle, a beacon” (163). Later, as Harper thought about Victoria, she hoped that an organization like Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) would somehow partner with hospitals to provide veterans like Victoria with the help they desperately need to heal in not only body but also mind and spirit.