Thursday, June 24, 2004
Pain
I'd like to think that I have a high tolerance for pain. Why? Because that's what tough guys have, and who doesn't want to be tough? Rugged, but sensitive. That's me in a nutshell. Or, at least it would make a nice jeans advertisement.
But, seriously, we all have this concept of a pain tolerance. And, clearly, such a thing exists, but I really think there's no possible objective way to measure it. Because, honestly, you could take two (either extremely gullible, masochistic, or stupid) people, blindfold them (so that anticipation doesn't have anything to do with it) and have them put their hands on a table, and hit them increasingly hard in the same exact spots with hammers, or icepicks, or whatever, and see who reacts first. But what would that prove? Maybe one person just has less sensitive nerves. Maybe they're partially paralyzed. Maybe their hand was asleep. To me, that's not "tough". That's not impressive. I want to see the guy who feels like every bone in his hand has been shattered, and a billion hot pokers are inside his hand, but he just sits there as if nothing is going on. Hell, I want to BE that guy. Minus experiencing that pain, of course.
At any rate, aside from some way of intercepting the pain sensors in the brain and measuring them, I think there's no real way to determine who really has a high pain tolerance and who doesn't. Plus, you'd need to have a way of measuring intolerance. Cuz, really, what defines pain intolerance? Women giving birth are said to be tolerating a lot of pain, but what choice do they really have? When I get hurt, I don't want to go run and hide, I actually get angry almost immediately. I'm talking like when I stub a toe, or whack my elbow, or some acute, non-critical injury. It's unfortunate, because I just get this urge to punch the nearest person to me at the time. Usually, that's whomever has seen my stupidly injure myself, and is asking "Are you ok?" Yeah, I'm fine, leave my stupid in-pain ass alone! Does that count as pain intolerant? Or would I have to faint to qualify?
But, seriously, we all have this concept of a pain tolerance. And, clearly, such a thing exists, but I really think there's no possible objective way to measure it. Because, honestly, you could take two (either extremely gullible, masochistic, or stupid) people, blindfold them (so that anticipation doesn't have anything to do with it) and have them put their hands on a table, and hit them increasingly hard in the same exact spots with hammers, or icepicks, or whatever, and see who reacts first. But what would that prove? Maybe one person just has less sensitive nerves. Maybe they're partially paralyzed. Maybe their hand was asleep. To me, that's not "tough". That's not impressive. I want to see the guy who feels like every bone in his hand has been shattered, and a billion hot pokers are inside his hand, but he just sits there as if nothing is going on. Hell, I want to BE that guy. Minus experiencing that pain, of course.
At any rate, aside from some way of intercepting the pain sensors in the brain and measuring them, I think there's no real way to determine who really has a high pain tolerance and who doesn't. Plus, you'd need to have a way of measuring intolerance. Cuz, really, what defines pain intolerance? Women giving birth are said to be tolerating a lot of pain, but what choice do they really have? When I get hurt, I don't want to go run and hide, I actually get angry almost immediately. I'm talking like when I stub a toe, or whack my elbow, or some acute, non-critical injury. It's unfortunate, because I just get this urge to punch the nearest person to me at the time. Usually, that's whomever has seen my stupidly injure myself, and is asking "Are you ok?" Yeah, I'm fine, leave my stupid in-pain ass alone! Does that count as pain intolerant? Or would I have to faint to qualify?
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