Pain and Painkillers
Friend, or enemy?
Pain. The four letter word that hurts us, breaks us, and drowns us. One of those intangible things in this world which seems to mean a lot in our lives.
I do not claim to be an expert about pain, nor do I want to act like one. But I’m hoping that through reading this you will somehow see pain on its real nature, no stereotypes and twisted definitions.
Pain is the word often perceived as something negative, something that’s a loss. A person on the receiving end of it is considered miserable, and maybe he/she also believes so.
Maybe it’s true. And maybe there’s nothing wrong with it being true.
Pain indeed puts a person in miserable condition. It traps us within walls seemingly inescapable and snares us with chains seemingly unbreakable. It consumes us and later leaves us feeling empty.
But without it, life would even be emptier. The absence of pain does not mean genuine happiness — only a facade of it.
The absence of pain indicates the absence of many beautiful things that give meaning to life.
Without weakness, comes no evidence of strength.
Without sickness, comes no essence of medicine.
Without pain, comes no experience of healing.
They say pain is the greatest enemy. I say it’s a friend — a smart, legitimate, genuine friend.
Pain is a signal for me to heal, a sign that something’s wrong and needs to be fixed. And I’m not just referring to the physical body.
Pain is what gives me reason to hope, reason to continue after all the hardships it put me through. Because I know that by the end of the darkness, comes the dawn.
Painkillers were created to get rid of pain. It can come as medicine in the denotative sense of the word, or as alcohol, sex, and even abuse of drugs. But the best way to recover from pain is not painkillers.
They can only go as far as cover the pain. They give you an illusion that it’s gone but the truth is — it’s as real as before. Hiding something does not change the fact that it exists.
The answer to pain is what it gives you. Its bittersweet taste challenges our being. It develops our faith and humility unlike any other.
Truth be told, it is only after the decision to endure can someone be truly healed. Because how can someone receive healing if he does not face pain head-on? And compared to painkillers — healing is a lot different.
And so pain and painkillers does not always complement each other. Pain is my friend, but painkillers are my enemy.
Remember that when pain comes knocking on your door again, the question is not…
“How many times can the heart be broken?”
But instead…
“How many times can it heal?”
