the etymology of trauma

I was once told that trauma describes a break in iron. A place where the dense mineral substance has been damaged. I suppose one could find something meaningful in the words origin, and I did.

At first I was astounded. My mind raced, attempting to fit this new information into its place amongst my other knowledge. Does this change the way I understand the use of the word trauma? That it denotes the point of weakness in what is otherwise a strong thing. That our traumas are the soft spot of being, an ugly mark that renders us useless or inhibited. 

Or maybe iron and people are not quite analogous. People are not like this not-so-precious metal. We are not diminished in value through mutilation. We are able to heal our wounds. We are so much more, so complex and complete that we cannot be marred or broken. There is something within us, something like a soul, that is so much more than iron. We are stronger stuff still, as we are as incorporeal as real. 

This world wind of etymological discovery left me uncertain. Had this reclamation of trauma in the verbal lexicon actually been in vain? In using language to identify and codify traumatic injury have we diminished people and there experience to that of a broken object? We now speak of trauma as a way to dispel shame, and to call on the humanity of others to foster understanding for those suffering. Is this collective self-awareness reductive?

Thoroughly exhausted by these mental gymnastics, I did whatever good child of the technological revolution would do, I Googled. 

Turns out the origin of trauma is Greek, meaning injury.   

And its development into the term used to describe deep psychological distress is fairly obvious and lacklustre.  

Meaning, like myth making, are often tools we use to find comfort amongst the chaos. And I had hoped so badly for some greater meaning here. For all the horror and the festering wounds of my mind to mean something more, to offer insight into humanity, or my soul. 

My trauma is an injury. Just like any other, and it will heal.