A Painful Epiphany

I must have known this fact. It must have been a part of the knowledge I have collected during my visit to Earth. I must have realized at some point, somewhere along the way that pain is tiring: exhausting as a matter of fact, but only recently have I experienced true revelation. My broken ribs have taught me how hard my body has to work to repair itself. Ribs can't be immobilized in plaster. You can sit motionless but it still hurts when you get up, lying down is very uncomfortable, and you can't avoid coughing or even worse, sneezing. God forbid anyone, or anything, should make you laugh because the pain won't be funny at all. There's no pill you can take. No healing balm to rub on. Although Codeine perhaps takes the edge off a little, who wants to be constipated. I cherish my regularity.

Ever since the point of a large human's shoulder collided with my chest, I have been tired, unenergetic and in some degree of pain. I haven't been able to exercise for two weeks now and I feel physically flat. Yet, at night, when I fall into bed - actually I don't fall because that would hurt - I sleep just as though I had run ten kilometres that morning, or dug trenches all day or whatever. I'm just as tired as I was before the injury, even though I am doing less. My body is still working hard. It doesn't like the situation any more than I do so its metaphorically killing itself to heal. I am amazed by this. I know fighting infection wears you out but apparently I assumed pain was different.

"Stop complaining you big cry baby," I hear you say. So what if you've got a couple of broken ribs? So, now I get it. I understand. Some people battle chronic pain. Many have had much more severe injuries than what I have.I actually feel afraid as I contemplate the intense suffering that some people must endure. I feel terribly sad that for many sufferers there is no relief, no remedy. I wonder where they find the will and the strength to keep going, and can only conclude that it must be supernatural. The human body, including the mind, is more than just a natural wonder, more than a complex and efficient machine, it is a masterpiece of design and engineering: the pinnacle of all creation. Broken humans...my prayers are with you.