Enemies
In the shower this morning (here we go again!) I was thinking about physical ailments. I suffer from occasional bouts of Gout in my feet.
For me attacks are typically focused in the ball of the foot and first joint of the big toe, though I also get them in the Achilles tendon. If you have these, you know the kind of discomfort it entails, if you don't, a severe acute attack feels something like a combination of a bad sprain in the joint, a bad sunburn on the surrounding skin, and a badly stubbed/bruised toe all at once.
It's a pain the likes of which I'd never felt before in my life when I had my first acute attack back in around 2002.
The phrase that came to mind was "I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemy." Hence today's topic.
I don't believe I have any "enemies"; that is: people whom I wish, or who wish me, personal ill. I make a point of not feeling that way toward anyone, and I hope I don't behave in such a fashion as to provoke that sentiment in others. I further hope I clean up any interpersonal messes that might lead to that and make available channels for communication and reconciliation.
I'll admit there are people whose company I don't particularly enjoy or seek out, there are people who I'd be perfectly content never to be in their physical presence ever again in my life. But I don't construe these folks as enemies; we just don't get along for whatever reason (personality conflicts, divergent views on certain topics, incongruent communication styles).
Some people of my acquaintance seem to need enemies, or an enemy, in order to function; like they have to have something to "push against" psycho-emotionally. I find this baffling.
True, it's often necessary for there to be recognizable conflict to tell a good story. Heroes and villains: enemies may have to be created for the purposes of elaborating fictive/mythopoetic imagery.
But who needs that kind of drama and conflict on a day-to-day basis? Life is complex and confusing enough.
For me attacks are typically focused in the ball of the foot and first joint of the big toe, though I also get them in the Achilles tendon. If you have these, you know the kind of discomfort it entails, if you don't, a severe acute attack feels something like a combination of a bad sprain in the joint, a bad sunburn on the surrounding skin, and a badly stubbed/bruised toe all at once.
It's a pain the likes of which I'd never felt before in my life when I had my first acute attack back in around 2002.
The phrase that came to mind was "I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemy." Hence today's topic.
I don't believe I have any "enemies"; that is: people whom I wish, or who wish me, personal ill. I make a point of not feeling that way toward anyone, and I hope I don't behave in such a fashion as to provoke that sentiment in others. I further hope I clean up any interpersonal messes that might lead to that and make available channels for communication and reconciliation.
I'll admit there are people whose company I don't particularly enjoy or seek out, there are people who I'd be perfectly content never to be in their physical presence ever again in my life. But I don't construe these folks as enemies; we just don't get along for whatever reason (personality conflicts, divergent views on certain topics, incongruent communication styles).
Some people of my acquaintance seem to need enemies, or an enemy, in order to function; like they have to have something to "push against" psycho-emotionally. I find this baffling.
True, it's often necessary for there to be recognizable conflict to tell a good story. Heroes and villains: enemies may have to be created for the purposes of elaborating fictive/mythopoetic imagery.
But who needs that kind of drama and conflict on a day-to-day basis? Life is complex and confusing enough.
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