Biting Bullets

Pain is not a new concept, but when we experience it, it seems like the first time. There are many reasons for pain, but the main reason is that something inside of us is piercing, pinching, rubbing against something or just broken.

Is physical pain more painful than emotional pain or are they the equal in the impact of the body?

When most people speak of pain, they speak of physical pain, but what about people who are in emotional pain? Often times they don't know how much pain they are in and their actions are misguided. They may rant and rave, display bizarre behavior, become reckless or simply withdraw.

They may even try to medicate the pain away and not address the issues that cause the pain. They may be like the lion in Aesops fable, who suffered in pain until a slave found him and removed the aching thorn from his paw.

So what can we do? If you see someone who is not themselves, ask what’s wrong? Though you can’t force your help on them, if you are sincere in your asking they may open up and tell you what’s wrong. It may not seem like a lot, but that person will be as grateful as the lion.

You may be able to tap into your inner guru and guide them to a peace within their Soul.

If that doesn’t work, you may want to tell them this. Before the advent of ether (the first anesthetic), the patient was fully conscious and felt the pain. Early surgeries were typically limb amputations or the removal of some object lodged into the body such as a bullet or arrowhead. A typical amputation consisted of the “surgeon” using a saw to hack off the unwanted limb.

The skin was then pulled down over the stub and sutured shut. To ease the pain, the patient was given a couple of stiff belts of whiskey to numb the senses, then given a stick or lead bullet to bite down on as the surgeon went to work with knife and saw. Hence the term, "biting the bullet."

Bullets are malleable. Although quite strong they will actually deform somewhat when bitten hard. Hence teeth would not break as would likely happen from biting a stone.

See, you can learn something here everyday. I’ll make sure of it.
May you all be bullet free. If you see someone in pain and you don’t know what to say, you can say, “I’m here if you need to talk.”