Pain and pain management delivers billions if not trillions of dollars to the coffers of pharmaceutical companies world over. That is how significant ‘pain’ is to the world economy, and we are made to believe that it’s the crude oil. No sir, its pain. Hence it makes sense why mankind is in pain most of the time. I guess pain doctrine is the driving wisdom behind that American phrase, ‘no pain, no gain’. It was surely coined rather clandestinely by the pharma companies of the world and then inserted more clandestinely into the language English for global acceptance. Of course, it is all in the name of love and the good of world commerce and wellbeing of us humans.
Talking of humans, there are only two types of people, one that inflict pain and the other that alleviate pain. That’s perhaps the shortest history of mankind. But then again there is that unavoidable detail, and the devil lies therein, almost always does.
There are people who inflict pain know how to justify it also, including the sort that is found roaming the streets of our frontier province which is now ‘unanimously’ called KP (Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa). They are the lost kind; they do it in the name of god and religion, name of justice, conventions, in the name of culture or whatever other justification their shallow minds conjure up. I call that pointless misery; such people should be made worthy recipients of the same treatment they so happily choose for others. Someone needs to tell them about ‘who shall cast the first stone’ doctrine. I, for now, have more important things to rant about.
All the people who cause pain are not necessarily bad people, like those aforementioned. Though normally bundled with some seriously pain full moments in my life, I dare say the same thing about dentists. Not at all for the team of dentists, for instance, who have been painstakingly working on fixing my neglect of 4.0 decades, yes my set of teeth.
Though their hard work is already delivering results, I am told I am my million dollar smile is well on it’s way to putting Julia Roberts and George Clooney both to shame in one go, I know I have yet a long painful way to go on that chair. As my wise old grand father used to say, kids who get spoilt at the age of 5 need another 15 to be put back on track, or un-spoilt. Same goes for my set of teeth that have fallen from grace due to fascinations with things religious militants would find utterly deplorable, hell; they might even whip me very hard for that. Dentists cause pain, though they might be tad masochists at heart, they mean good end of the day. My last words (of wisdom) on tooth aches look after your teeth, or you better save up for that ‘paining’ day.
I resolutely believe that if the mankind wasn’t so self obsessed and erring that frequently at communicating, much pain and misery could have bee alleviated. That’s not the case with animals though, specially when it comes to your domesticated pets. They can’t talk as we know, so you have to feel and discover their pain when they aren’t well. There are always signs provided it’s you and not your servants that are looking after their wellbeing. You just know somehow if there is something wrong. Cyclops, the one eyed male Persian cat of mine, developed some weird eye allergy; sadly he only has one eye – as his name suggests - so it was a matter which required grave attention. The other eye Cyclops was born with was poked out by some rich kid before he dumped him at a chicken shop some 5 years ago. Mercifully he was recovered and then saved by the kind help of Dr. Isma Gheewala of the
Circumstances are very similar to pains; they just don’t remain the same. They get worse or get better with time or you simply learn to live with them, it depends on how you choose to look at them. Again, just like your relatives, you don’t get to choose your circumstances you are born with them. One day however, normally post a short spell of intense self assessment and introspection you realize that you need to change yourself in order to change your circumstances. That’s easier said then done but like it goes, courtesy pharmaceuticals, no pain no gain. Friends are like assets as we all know, but at times certain friends can cause quite a pain too, specially when you can talk to them but the aren’t able to communicate with you. I have a few friends on that list, I adore their presence in my life but I can sure do with less confusion. But perhaps that anonymous quote aptly describes what my friends are going through, ‘he listens to his psychiatrist, and then draws his own confusions’. Painfully.
