ova hangnail I “evant to be hos- " pitalized and ‘fife is that I get STRICTLY PERSONAL | SUFFERING IS soinething I generally try to avoid. This is normal. ‘Far be it from me to presume to know what is “normal,” but in this case I mean normal in such a gener- al way that it should be possible to agree. f'n talking about the avoidance- of-pain reflex built into ali sentient life, from the amoebas onward, If probed with high-voltage elec- tric blasts, we cringe and try to escape, the amoebus and us. That's what] mean by normal, I have a low pain threshold, Or is it high? can never get this straight. AJIT know is, if 1 get given lots of morphine. All [ask of through it wit . ‘the minimum of actual pain. I ‘don’t think Pm afraid of dying . so much as lam s concerned about the method. Let it be gentle, is my prayer. - Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, I’m told, state that you can eliminate a . lot of the inevitable suffering that - comes with the experience of life, - but not ail of it. No matter how sin- less you may be, you’re still bound - to get the occasional stubbed toe. Besides, who is remotely close to being without sin, and therefore can say? Nobody I hang out with. ’ Raised as [ was in the Catholic line of thinking, I took pain and suffering to be punishments meted out by God because of various sins. Part of the debate was — still is, 1 guess — over whether souls are ” born innocent, whether there is such a thing as original sin. Great theological hairsplitting. However, the net effect was to ‘associate punishment with illness 66 Maybe I was being punished for having harbored bad thoughts about resoui'ce-expioiting transnationals. 99 and accident. I guess Estill do, irrational as it may be. Imagine how horrified | wis, therefore, to wake up ote night to find awful pulsations of pain surging up and down my arms, back and forth across my chest, making even my teeth sore. Actually, | was more ticked off than anything, because J thought [ knew exactly why it was happen- ing: I'd gone winter camping, and had badly overexerted myself. So there T was, u few hours later, after awaking in pain, down at the doc- tor's office, getting a cardiogram. As il turned out, there wis noth- ing wrong with my heart. I'd been pulling a heavily-laden sleigh, and had stretched a major slab of back and shoulder muscle in opposite directions, that was all. The catch was, it would take a whiie to heal. Ht would involve some physiotherapy, A heating pad or two would be in order. And yes, if you really feel a lot of physicat pain, some Tylenol 3s would be OK, too. Bless you, doc, sez I, scuttling, bent and twisted, moaning and grunting, over to the pharmacy. Later, safely home in my waterbed, with heating pads wedged in front and behind, the painkillers, anti-inflammatory pills and muscle relaxants kicking nicely in, 1 re-thought my silly prejudices against industrialism and its bene- fits. Maybe | was being pun- ished for hav- ing harbored bad thoughts about resource- exploiting transnationals. I mean, why woulda guy get punished “ for going out and trying to relate to nature? Going camping js one thing. Winter camping is something else. Like, strictly for the purists, eh? At least, that’s what I must have subcon- - sciously been ‘thinking. ] had actu- ally expected to come back from surviving at 25 below in better psy- cho-spiritual shape than ever, if 1 may put it that way. * Don’t all those group nature ordeals for executives make exactly this point? You become tougher, more survival-hip, but more in touch with yourself. Deeper. Yeh! Well, maybe this had happened, and { just hadn’t noticed the effects yet. Hard to be sure whether one is a more profound, mature adult or merely zonked on pills. Under the circumstances, zonked seemed more likely. It didn’t seem fair. Pd challenged myself. [’d gone out to the edge. And here I was, physical- ly humbled, reduced to a twitching DRAPERIES BY S. LAURSEN & SON custom BEDSPREADS, “TRACKS AND VALANCES Labour $8.50 per panel unlined, $9.50 lined. CUSTOM DRAPERIES & BLINDS At low, low prices. For FREE Estimates call 987-2966 (Ask about Seniors’ Discounts) Serving the North Shore for 23 years ie tec fetal ball in bed, hugging the heat- ing pads, When it is oneself smarting, the guilt and punishment viewpoint wears thin quickly. | preferred to think that there was a lesson to be learned here, ALL it was was a miat- ter of figuring oul what it could be. Use your head, idiot, Smarten up. No. Couldn't be those. Too gen- eralized, For this much grief, you want to get a pretly tangible lesson out of it, don't yeu? Something practical, Applicable. Re-usable. Don't haut heavily-taden sleighs Sunday, Api 10, 1994 « North Shore News - T through the snow for hours at 25 below, when you're nearly totally out of shape, Boh. That would be a specific lesson, all right. But nat of much use outside a narrow range of eventualitics, I took a couple of weeks for the pain to eventually be driven from my nervous system by a combined application of laser therapy, 4 ice and heat, and drugs, delivered by an incredibly well-trained team of medical personnel, backed up by a worldwide conimunications and distribution system, and adminis- ‘Spring Term Starts April 18 — Computer Training at Capilano College Wihiether you're just getting started or ready to go online with the Internet, computer training at Capilano College / gives you the skills you'll need for the information age. Call now to register ~ these popular courses fill quickly! Basics of Microcomputers & Wednesdays, 7:00 -10:00 p.m. April 20 to June 8 . $225 (includes text) CMPL2501 | or 8 Tuesdays, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. April 26 to June 14 CMPL26311 no-closet tered by a nightmarish!y huge but astonishingly effective burenugracy. Maybe that was the lesson, Nature isa great thing that ought to be preserved and protected, by all means, and Hove it, but in the crunch TE come out of the closet as it. big fan of technology and science, which might, now that E think about it, tind their highest expressions not in tnissions to the moon but in the commonplace pill that you glug down with 1 glass of water. 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