Pain and Suffering

The thing about being disabled is that beyond the frustration, pain and inconveniences, one learns to adapt. Whether it is a temporary setback or a permanent condition, the adaptation curve of course, largely depends on one's attitude.

My friend's wife suffered a series of minor strokes last week. She had platlet complications as well as diabetes and high blood pressure. We prayed in the face of a very scary situation. She bounced back, and will be discharged from hospital in a couple more days. She lost motor funtion on her left body though, and will have to go through extended periods of physiotherapy.

I have lost the full use of my right arm for close to 3 weeks. First it was frozen, and when it thawed out it hurt when I moved my wrist. Practically lost my ability to grip. People prayed for me too, but my condition seemingly got worse. I figured this was the "forced rest" that my body needed, although my brain keeps psycho-ing it to push the limits just a little bit more.

Adapting to a disablement is never easy, even when it is not serious. Frustration and anger may be initial responses as nerves and tendons gang up on you, especially with looming deadlines and gazillion other things to do. Stressful.

Then acceptance dawns. That one is not immortal after all, that one day (nearer now than before) we all die and what remains is how we have lived - either for ourselves or for God. Then you start to look at people in a different light. You see beauty in places you've never really appreciated them before - in a deformed child, in a badly-burnt victim, in a multiple sclerosis patient. No, you don't just see beauty in them, you identify with them. For a moment, you actually know how it feels to live in an imperfect body.

Does it take pain and suffering to open our eyes? And our hearts? Granted, pain and suffering mean different things to different people, but one thing binds us all in common. We flee from suffering like it is the plague.

It would take longer for my friend's wife to recover than it would for me. For that, I am thankful. But more so for the fact that I've had the chance to partake of this side of humanity that is (understatedly) unpopular and shunned, that many obhor and avoid. And was able do it because Jesus had gone ahead of me.