Intermittently I take painkillers for something I've got wrong with me - knee pain, heel pain, toothache. And immediately I feel better, so I stop taking them and the pain comes back. Or doesn't. Depending. This morning it occurred to me what a miracle this was, and that one need never feel pain again.
Now, depending on how you look at it, that's not a good thing. As it says on the packaging when you take it, if pain persists consult your doctor. So pain is telling us something about our bodies and nagging pain is a reminder to do something about it.
And sitting there and enjoying a pain-free moment (toothache) it occurred to me, apart from the fact that I need to book in to see the dentist, how easy it would be to become hooked on painkillers.
You often read in the papers about people who are addicted to food/booze/shopping/drugs/alcohol etc. and I have been vaguely aware of people addicted to various over the counter drugs without really thinking about it. And then I did. And then I saw how seductive it would be to be "pain free" and how that could be emotional pain as well as physical pain. And then you could find yourself in a fog. Permanently. And it would start of being great, and then suddenly it wouldn't be quite so great. Hmm.
Of course, the reverse is often true too. I know people who won't take a painkiller for fear of becoming addicted! And generally that's not a risk, I'm sure.
But what I noticed this morning was the the tablet I took in the middle of the night for my tooth miraculously made my knees and foot better too. It's a miracle, I'm healed! I know some of this seems obvious now that I think about it, but some things you have to learn by thinking them through and discovering them for yourself. And this is one such thing.
It's useful to have thoughts which make you realise how other people may feel, and how they might get themselves into circumstances which previously I couldn't have got my head around. It allows compassion and perhaps understanding and connects us to our fellow man in a way which may become useful in the fullness of time.
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