Embrace the Pain

Streaks of pain ran down my back as I worked today.  My right thigh muscle throbbed with every step.  My body ached with every breath.  So, let me explain.  Yesterday, I visited the gym during my lunch break.  This gym is only five hundred metres from my work and is my way of relieving stress and remaining reasonably fit during my workdays.  Yesterday, the workout consisted of running (1km), cycling (4.5km) and boxing.  All of this under 37 degree heat.  I suffered.  Why as rational human beings do we place ourselves under this torture?  The physical body was not meant for this.  

Many years ago, when I was thirteen years old, I was playing soccer with some friends at a birthday party.  During the match, I was tackled from behind (a highly illegal move) and the player fell on my left thigh.  Consequently, my left femur was broken in two.  The match was stopped and I was moved to a bench; this shifted my broken leg.  By the time I arrived at the hospital, both broken bones were side by side.  After surgery, I was in a body cast from the bottom of my ribcage to the ankle of my left foot and to the knee of my right foot, for six weeks.  These six weeks were life changing.  At the age of thirteen, I was confined to a bed.  Everything, I mean everything, was brought to me.  This including being hand washed, hand fed and the toilet came to me.  This is not easy for a 13 year old, who is discovering the world.  I even travelled on an international flight Chile to Australia, in this body cast.  The cast spanned the distance of two plane seats and a bit more.   During the flight, the plastered foot stuck out into the aisle.  Every passenger on the flight must have knocked the cast.  Just in case you are wondering, I am fine now.  But, at the time, it was difficult and challenging.   

When I was eighteen years old, I spent five days in hospital for a series of test.  One of these tests was a spinal tap.  Basically, the test consists of me curling up on my side in a foetal position and then a sharp needle being placed into my spinal cord and fluid being removed, all for testing purposes.  The pain descends after you straighten out and the needle is removed.  The human body was never created for such pain.

There is an interesting quote that spoke about pain or suffering.  It said, "know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us."  Basically, we live in a world where there is pain and suffering.  But, at times, we try to deny or avoid the pain.  But, perseverance is a result of working through the pain.  Character, the moral strength of a person, is developed; from this hope.  In this world, hope will thrive and triumph.