What’s wrong Survivor guilt? Survivor guilt is a condition in which people feel guilty and as if they did something incorrect because they survived an incident and others did not. They believe the fatalities of others is somehow their fault. When they talk about feeling guilt, soldiers express regret, also known as “agent-regret”, and feelings of betrayal to their fellow partners who were not as lucky.
Private Joseph Mayek was injured when standing guard near a Bradley fighting vehicle. The gun placed on top misfired, blowing off most of his face. Captain John Prior feels responsible because he placed the vehicles and set the security.
The author defines what it is to be “good” to point out that what you do does not matter, rather how much you care about what happened. This is intended to prove that those suffering from survivor guilt have not done anything wrong. In fact, they are good people who were not at the right place at the right time. These definitions and examples serve as a source of relief for the affected. They also help those who are not informed to understand the condition and see it in real situations.
Prior’s quotation supports the author’s statement that the survivors are not necessarily responsible for what occurred because any number of factors could have affected the things and people involved. Quoting Prior demonstrated to the reader that even those who have been in situations involving fatalities and feel guilty can look at the reality of the incident and realize that it is not directly their fault and anything could have happened.
