All pain is not gain. The sum is a total of the parts. A truth brought home to you when you suffer from something as innocuous as a stubbed toe. The pain almost unbearable for a while. You shrug it off with ‘it’s only my toe’. How naive can one get.
That’s when you realise how vital that tiny appendage is to your physical well-being. A part of your body you’ve never really given much thought to.
As soon as the throbbing subsides, you delude yourself into thinking that it’s going to be all right.
But you’re only being lulled into a false sense of security. As you get up the next morning, you start your day feeling this burst of energy. And leap out of bed. Only to land on that left foot, the one with the stubbed toe. And discover that your foot is a mass of nerve endings. For some seconds which seem like minutes the pain blots out the brightness of the new day.
You are convinced that you will never walk again. Imagine yourself on crutches for the rest of your life. As soon as the throbbing subsides to tolerable levels, you test the waters so to speak. Place that foot down ever so slowly. Learn to walk again.
For the next hour or so you limp from room to room. Maybe even exaggerate the movement. Waiting for sympathy. Only to be greeted with: “Good grief, you’ve done it again. How do you manage to bump into everything?”
You hobble away to lick your wounds in silence. But each step is agony. And you can’t help the sounds that escape.
Five days later the toe is still sore. Never have you been so careful while slipping into a pair of shoes. Aware with every breath that you take of the way your toe has taken over your life. And then there’s the cut on the finger. You have no idea how it got there. Suddenly it announces its smarting presence.
That’s when you find out how dependent the remaining four fingers are on this little one. Simple tasks not so simple after all. Every little thing you do seeming to need the co-operation of that finger which makes you stop and think. Of how even the tiniest part of your body deserves the deepest respect.
Toothaches. Just one of those little things nestled in your mouth can bring you to your knees. Make you feel like death warmed over. This itty bitty piece able to spread agony faster than you can ’smile’, causing earaches, jawaches, headaches, all the aches you can think of.
The only thing that makes you bear this for as long as you can is the dreaded thought of a visit to the dentist.
Until you can’t take it anymore and almost beg for relief. Ready to admit defeat and submit yourself to the ordeal at the dentist. All these niggling experiences making you appreciate the Maker of things both big and small.
译文:
小而强大
付出所有不一定有回报.总和指的是所有部分的总和.这个真理会在你遭遇像脚趾头受伤这类不幸时变得格外
有道理.这种伤的痛苦可能一时间会让你无法忍受.但你却因为它只是脚趾头而轻视它的存在，那么你实在是太天真了.
那时候你就会意识到脚趾头这微不足道的身体部件是多么重要了. 然而你却从未给予它一点点关注.
一旦疼痛稍微缓和,你就会自欺欺人告诉自己:一切都会好起来的!
然而,事实上你只不过是在一种假设的安全感中得到了片刻安宁.当你第二天从床上爬起来的时候,一种突如其来的能量充斥着你,你跳下床,恰巧是脚指头受伤的左脚着地，你感觉到无比的疼痛,简直度日如年,疼痛把你新的一天全毁了.
你以为自己再也走不了路了，想象自己拄着拐杖了此残身.然而,一旦疼痛又一次减轻,你感觉不再那么难熬了,于是你把动作尽可能放慢，重新学习走路。
下一刻，你蹒跚着在各个房间走动，甚至有点夸张自己的伤势，等待有人对自己表示同情。最终却只收获一句：“挂彩了~ 怎么你老是这样！走路怎么不长眼睛呀~~”
你只能默默回到角落里自怜自哀。但你走的每一步都让你无比疼痛，根本无法逃脱那个渴望从痛苦中释放出来的声音。
五天之后，疼痛依然在继续。你从来没有这么小心翼翼地穿过鞋。你的脚趾头牵动着你的生命，就像呼吸一般不容忽视。然后你又被割伤了，你不知道自己是怎么弄伤手指的，伤口不知道怎么地就出现了。
那时你就会发现其他四个手指是多么离不开那个受伤的手指。原先简单的动作现在都变得格外困难。每件似乎需要那根手指协作的小事好像都会让你停下来，产生这样的想法：即便是这小的身体部件都需要这么多的关注阿~
牙痛。那些在你嘴巴里安营扎寨的小东西竟然也能让你屈服，让你生不如死。比起微笑来，这些小东西更能传播疼痛，耳朵疼、下巴疼、头疼、所有你想得到的疼痛都有可能发生。
唯一一个令你无论如何都要强忍疼痛的原因就是看牙医这可怕的想法。
直到你实在无法忍受，几乎要求饶了，你才“缴械投降”，把自己交给牙医。所有这些难以言说的痛苦经历都会使你不禁惊叹造物主的神奇力量，无论物体的大小都有其重要功效。