Attack of the Loop Thinkers

I know three people who have been traumatized in their childhood years. One has gone on to become a super person, open to new ideas. But the others are prone to being caught in circular thinking. A word or association causes them to revert to a tragic theme again and again.

Someone I knew took a boat ride on Lake Erie. They were caught in a storm and tossed about. From then on any reference to the lake caused them to repeat the experience and relate it always in the same words.

In a humorous example, we have a classic act by Lou Costello or the Three Stooges, where just one word sets a person off into a rage. You may have seen it as "Niagara Falls" or "Pocomoco".

In real life my friends revert to about age nine, the time of their crises. Two of them live in a past tense whenever possible, and seek happiness there. Some glorious day, these memories will be gone forever. Until then God gives us the promise of heaven or a renewed world to think of.

I said "attack of the loop thinkers", but they are the ones who were attacked.