Tag Archives: history

The Problem of Pain–

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Jack gets in just over the line again – –

The title of this post is also the title of a book by CS Lewis based on a lecture he presented. In both he tried to explain why a nurturing God would allow people to experience sometimes terrible pain. He likened it to a sculptor chiseling at a piece of stone to eventually reveal the perfect person inside. The pain is the chiseling, and it has to be endured before you can emerge from inside.

I know some people who have chronic pain and who might question that analogy!

However, I am an admirer of Lewis, and this post is on a simpler level. I have often said that you can’t enjoy the lack of pain until you have first experienced it. I’ve been mostly lucky with my health over the years, so my brushes with pain have tended to be fairly short lived, but when it goes away, there is an almost indescribable feeling of relief – almost euphoria.

A recent example –

A couple or so months ago I bought a new pair of shoes and immediately felt as if they were pinching one of my toes. So I swapped back to the old pair, but that didn’t help. I even went to a pair of soft slippers but still felt the same pain with them. So I made an appointment with the local podiatrist. This very nice guy had a close look and found that I had an ingrown toenail that had caused a callous to develop. Half an hour later I walked out to my car with no pain at all.

There’s another side to all this, which is, of course the opioid crisis sweeping America. Originating in the overprescribing of painkillers and then spreading to wider communities experiencing both physical and emotional pain. But that’s Wendy’s area of expertise and research – –

I certainly don’t mean to denigrate Lewis or any others who have tried to theorize about this subject. I’m not particularly religious, although I am a believer in He She or It. But I struggle to understand how a truly nurturing Deity would not intervene to prevent the worst pain. Something worse than an ingrown toenail, I mean.

Maybe opioids are the answer, and we as humans have screwed that up, too.

Come back next Wednesday for more from Jack

Back SEAT Drivers–

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Jack gets in just over the line again – –

Continuing from last week – –

When Wendy first came to Scotland and we prepared to get married, she got an earlier model SEAT Ibiza car. Part of the deal for her PhD studies was that she should teach a semester of classes for undergrad students, which meant going back to Newfoundland for a few months.

She was in the habit of getting drive-thru food when on the road and also in the habit of dumping the empty bags and containers over her shoulder into the back of the car. So while she was gone I gave her SEAT a thorough clean, and when she came back she found it sparkling (true love!). I had hooked an empty bag on the glove box handle as a hint – –

Within a week the bag was full, and so was the back of the car! Never try to change your life partner…

Then there was the time she went into town. Our nearest town of any size was Cupar, and it had a marvelous bakery shop called Fisher and Donaldson.

I was surprised when she came home in a taxi with the excellent rhubarb pies they made. She had come out of the bakery, walked over the sidewalk, and dropped the only key for the car down a drain! It took us three weeks to get a replacement key, and meanwhile the car sat by the side of the road back in town. But she did buy me an extra rhubarb tart.

Twenty six years later, and I have just cleaned out our newest car – a Prius Prime. I lifted out all the stuff and killed our fairly new vacuum in the process! I found some home-made rhubarb pies – – –

Let the circle be unbroken – –

Come back next Wednesday for more from Jack