The Problem with Pain

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

-C.S. Lewis

The book is called "The Problem of Pain" (italics added) but I decided to venture out on my own little jaunt here and change the preposition. Maybe because I forgot the correct title. Or maybe because I am incredibly enlightened... I am going to go with the first one. Either way, I do love this book and if you have a chance and have ever felt pain, maybe you will too. And it speaks to something that we all know as a very physical thing: pain.

We have all felt, in all facets of the word. It is an easy thing to describe, help others feel and hear and know, and I think more often than not easy to write about because it is much more concrete and common to nail down than harder emotions or things, such as love. It is just... very specific. I say pin prick at the hospital, you should cringe. I say tattoo on the top of the foot, you bite your lip (in a bad way). I say heartbreak and you know what I mean. I say lost loved one, and you associate that with one that you lost. Pain is concrete. Pain is simple. Pain hurts.

But is hurt bad? Is hurting bad? Hm. Sometimes. Maybe. I don't know. That's probably a bigger question than my young mind can answer. But from what I know it's sometimes one of the best things, and sometimes one of the worst things. The problem OF pain and the problem WITH pain are closely related. I think I want to group it together and say, "pain is bad, it's never good to see someone hurt." But on the other hand, pain is necessary. Pain from a wound sometimes means it's healing. Pain means that we feel. I always think about a friend of mine from high school, paralyzed from the neck down (at first). What hurt him was the lack of pain, the lack of feeling. So then pain, too, starts to become somewhat scatterbrained and happenstance. Ugh, it makes my head hurt sometimes- more pain!- just thinking about it.

But pain is not always bad. I like pain in a way. I am reminded of another Lewis quote: "Safe? Course he isn't safe. But he is good."

I am thankful for my scars in my life, for the skinned knees and the burn marks and old bruises that won't heal. I am thankful for the scars in my heart, though I might not be too happy about how they got there. No one ever got anywhere good without a scar or two. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather a thousand scars and some good stories and a passionate love and real life, than to play it "safe".