Why Pain?
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Please Don't Shout
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We all experience pain from time to time. There are the pain of loss, the pain of embarrassment, the pain of not being able to cope, the pain of mental illness, and many other types of pain. One of the most debilitating forms of pain is physical pain. Physical pain can be acute and it can be chronic. A dull chronic ache is often harder to bear than a short burst of acute pain. Sometimes it seems like the pain will never end.
Why do we have to experience pain? I suppose freedom from pain is what inspires our hope of a blissful state beyond death where we would no longer need to deal with it. Sometimes even death itself must seem welcome to the sufferer, no matter what lies beyond. But that still doesn't answer the question. Why is pain part of our lives?
Pain can be a teacher. We learn as children that some things, such as a hot stove, must be avoided. We learn from painful experience to stay away from those things that cause us pain. This is part of the protective system of the human body. Of course, on the negative side, we sometimes develop unnatural fears or phobias, causing us to stop reaching out for new experiences. We must not let pain be our master.
For men, pain is often a macho thing. Men like to brag about the pain they have endured. Somehow men think it makes them a better person. Perhaps it does, but I think this is rather stupid. There are enough things in life to naturally cause us pain. We don't have to seek out pain just to make ourselves tough.
Since I am not a woman, I will not try to analyze the pain that women suffer. It is evident that men and women have their own forms of pain that the other sex does not experience, and often does not understand. Let's not belittle each other when we have never experienced the pain that the other person must endure.
I guess, most of all, pain is a way for the body to tell us that something is wrong. With pain we receive a message that we need to change our lifestyle, or even seek medical help for whatever condition that is causing the pain. My question is: “Why does the body have to yell so loud?” I think I could get the message if it just told me a little more quietly. Then again, I often fail to act until the pain becomes unbearable. That's sort of stupid, too.
Listen to your body before it has to shout at you. You may be sorry if you don't. Take it from the Old Professor. I'm still learning, but evidently I haven't learned too much. The pain keeps on coming.
Copyright © Jay D Weaver - 2003
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