Well said -- and very, very true. Time can entirely change one's heart, too. Losing a loved one, experiencing betrayal, undergoing trama, failing in one's most precious goals... It can really take a toll on one's perception of life, other people, society, or even the world. The person's entire outlook may change, or even their very personality. It may result in the loss of innocence for young kids -- where they once regarded the world with curiosity and wonder, they now observe it with trepidation and scorn. And sometimes, people don't even want to heal. They either feel like they don't deserve it -- that this is somehow a divine or karmic punishment -- or they feel guilty for moving on, like they're leaving behind the person they've lost, or abandoning other people who are also suffering. Still others believe that this must be their place in life -- that they must suffer so other people don't have to -- so they hide their pain and never allow their wounds to heal. Or -- on the more cynical side -- some people even hold onto grief because it makes them feel entitled to display negative emotions, or to appear "victimized" in some way. They do this to either get attention, to gain sympathy and gifts / money / privileges, or simply to make themselves feel better. But even in this case, at the heart of it, the person is acting out because they are suffering -- that wound won't heal because they won't stop picking at it, and it frustrates them that they still feel pain from the wound, but they still keep perpetuating it anyway, looping themselves into a cycle of pain and negative behavior. But yeah, excellent points you've made, especially about coping not being the same as healing. Coping with a wound means that it's a constant in one's life -- even if the person can "forget" about it for a little while, it will always be there in the subconscious, surfacing on occasion to remind the person that they're still in pain, and then retreating to await another opportune moment when it can again whisper words of melancholy, hopelessness, and / or fear. The person has to learn how to deal with this wound whenever it flares back up, and either distract themself from it, or soothe it back into dormancy. On a (somewhat) lighter note: I was attracted to this Opinion piece because of its title, which immediately reminded me of a line from one of my favorite Nightwish songs, *For the Heart I Once Had*, which is actually *very* appropriate to this topic: It's about a person who experiences repeated heartbreak, and it eventually takes from them their heart and innocence. The lyrics also heavily imply a loss of innocence due to coming into adulthood, and learning that the world is not as full of wonder as when they were a child. This leaves the person scarred and constantly looking back to a time in which their heart was as light as snow. Anyway, the line in question is: "Time will not heal a Dead Boy's scars / time will kill." Since I'm entirely shameless in my desire to share my favorite songs, [here's a link to the song on YouTube] (https://youtu.be/1bZN_4NkbUo). (Btw if this this isn't allowed, I'll promptly edit and remove the link).

Fair enough. There's also the argument that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Tbh, I don't think there's a definitive, black-or-white answer as to whether or not time heals all wounds. I feel like it's completely situational and dependent on the person -- where one person might be able to handle suffering better, another might find it too overwhelming to be able to move on. There's also the presence (or absence) of mental disorders to consider, which may disrupt the normal grieving process and cause the affected person to get trapped in or fixate on the "anger" or "depression" stages. A person's [personality type] (https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types) also plays a vital role in determining their level of fortitude and perseverence. Having or lacking a strong support network also makes a difference -- and in order for time to heal, their support network needs to be *patient*, and stick with them the whole way through. Having people give up on you halfway in only cuts the wound deeper. So, yeah. Perhaps the best way to look at it is to understand that everyone is different, and what one person can handle, another person may be incapable of handling. On a side note, I get *very* frustrated when someone says "well, *I* was able to do X just fine, so you have no excuse to not be able to do it." It's one of the most ignorant and insensitive things I've ever heard. Please, for the love of (insert object of worship here), *do not* ever say anything like this to anyone, *especially* not to someone who is experiencing grief or trauma. It sets up unrealistic expectations for someone to cope and heal in exactly the same way that you do, when more likely than not, their situation is different than yours -- which means they face disadvantages that you might not even have any concept of. What's worse is that it causes the other person to beat themself up needlessly for not being able to handle things the same way as you do. It isn't fair to force a fish to climb a tree -- it just simply can't be done, and all it does is hurts the fish's self-esteem. ... Anyway, yeah. After thinking about it, I'd actually change my vote to "Neutral" because it's not a simple black-or-white answer. Depending on who you are, either one could be right.