Aika parantaa haavat.

Time will heal sores

My informant grew up in Haamenlina, Finland with her mother, father, and older brother.   She is very introverted and does not talk very much, probably because her brother is of much older age.  I lived with the family for 2 months, and she barely spoke any word.  I asked her via her mother to tell me of a saying that was most popular during her childhood, because she didn’t speak English fluently, and she gave me the above.

She often remembers coming home and having a bad day because her and her friends got into a fight, and she would come home crying.  She knew that she would never talk to her friends again, yet it still hurt her that her friends were mean to her.  Her mother would often then say this phrase, “Aika parantaa haavat”, which translates to with time, sores will heal.

Scientifically, the phrase is referring to the idea that cuts and bruises, as much as they hurt at the moment, will one day heal, only leaving a scar.  You won’t even remember the pain that it was, so there is no point on dwelling on the pain that is now.

This phrase is used as comforting words to a distressed individual or group.  On a larger scale, this phrase is also used widely to suggest that two countries that once had a feud, their relations will heal and prosper.  Finland is known for the amounts of civil war, war with Sweden, and war with Russia.  Finnish people were constantly in battle trying to keep their independence.

The phrase is constantly used in media, for example, recently the Virginia Tech shootings were a horrid event, yet news stories around the globe writes that Virginia Tech will “heal”, as if there is actually a wound that will close up.

The idiom is used in the news article’s headline: “New Englander at VT Says School Will Heal.” MSNBC 22 Apr. 2007. 26 Apr. 2007

<http://www.msnbc.com/id/18185305/>.