Veteran's Day 2013

On one of my social media accounts today, a friend of mine commented rather negatively on an image of my daughter resting her hand on my Father's headstone at the National Cemetery in which he is buried. the comments offended and irritated me. 

I do not get upset easily but their words upset me a great deal. Whereas I used to be close to this person, many of those who could read their comments are not and would not understand why they would say such a thing, but, after a couple of folks actually reached out to me, I thought I needed to respond. 

This is what I felt I had to say:

Dear, YOUR NAME HERE, as I typically hold back on spouting out my opinion and passion in such a public forum, I had originally deleted your comment about "being a stickler" regarding how I “should not have posted this picture on Veteran's Day because Memorial Day is for those who have died.” However, I feel I must respond because, as much as I have enjoyed your company and respected your opinion in the past, on this particular day you could not have picked a worse image to spew out what I see as a certain level of ignorance under a picture that means the world to me!

First off, my Father served for more than two decades protecting us in the Submarine Service of our Navy. He and so many more heroes lay buried in this National Cemetery, a place that neither you nor I will EVER have the honor of being interred. His sacrifice and those of countless other soldiers and sailors will never be equaled by ANYTHING you and I will ever do for this or any nation.

Secondly, in dying he did not become any less of a veteran. This day is a day to remember any and all veterans of our military service whether they are living, dead, volunteered or were drafted, served one year or served their entire career.

Each and every day we live in this nation, whether or not we agree with the political climate, we need to be thankful that these heroes have been and are still here for us. Today is the day that we show that gratitude and remembrance on a Federal level. 

If you can't take my word for it, here, read about it on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day

Thirdly, what the hell is wrong with you? Criticizing me posting a picture of my daughter visiting my Father's grave site is never going to be well received. Keep that to yourself!

That headstone and the hundreds (perhaps even thousands by now) out there serve as a reminder to her and so many others of the impact these VETERANS have made and the importance of their lives in the eyes of our Nation.

I hope this small fraction of my thoughts on the matter helps you to better understand what today is about, especially to me.

If you touch me (just barely) I'll scream OUCH!!!

Testicles are an amazing thing (please feel free to stop reading now, but it will get better, I promise)! 

Yes, yes, they contribute to the procreation of our species... 

Mmmm hmmmm.... yes they respond to changes in the temperature what with their own sort of climate control settings (aka "shrinkage").

Yes, for the most part they're easily concealed...

All good points, but what I'm going for is their sensory to pain.

See, any man (and I'll be the man in these scenarios) can take a major impact to the groin, such as being kicked, and it won't phase him or his testicles.  There is no pain.  There is no concern.

However, someone could just toss that same man (me again) a pencil and it could just mildly bump him in the crotchal region and he (I) will be buckled over in pain, nauseated and on the verge of tears for the next hour.  There is a lot of pain, a whole lot of reflection on your life and past mistakes and pretty much an acceptance of, and almost welcoming desire for, dying REALLY SOON!!!

So, I have a theory.

The brain creates a sort of protective combination of realization and pain to serve as a self serving warning system to aid us all in staying alive.  So, if someone runs up and kicks you in the groin, you are well aware of it just by visual stimulus alone.  You know it happened, you couldn't miss it and it's time for you to go.  In most cases, your brain was prepared for the assault on the boys and knows that you are fully appraised of the situation.  The brain will turn off your pain sensors because pain is really just there to let you know something is going on.  Again, that foot feeling in your crotch is enough to tell you that something is going on!

However, it's the little innocent taps to the old batter barn that can bring one to their knees in a very bad way.  See, whether you saw it happen or not, your brain will turn on some serious pain indicators to let you know that there is a pending altercation going on below the belt.  Whether you saw it or not, your brain doesn't care, it DESPERATELY wants you to know that even though nothing traumatic has happened YET, something serious just might be about to go down!

This is what pain is all about.  It is to serve as a warning to let us know that something bad, that we may or may not be aware of, is going on.  So, my theory (which I have read about in articles before but am neither looking up nor quoting as sources as this is simply a blog and not a thesis) is that how we respond to pain is a trained response.

On a side note, as much as I love to work them into most conversations at casual social engagements, this blog is not about my testicles but is more about pain.  They just happened to be the best example I could think of and I will try my best not to mention them again.

You're welcome.

I was born with a very rare medical condition referred to as CIP (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain).  However, when I was born it was referred to as "Ma'am, I'm sorry but we don't know what the hell is wrong with your kid.  We think he doesn't feel pain" syndrome.  I really wasn't even sure if this was a real thing until around ten years ago when Dateline did a story about it.

I look back and think about how truly awful this must have been for my folks and for my Mom especially as Dad was at sea whenever I would experience an "episode."  For the most part, my situations were mild in that I would cut myself and would be completely unaware until Mom noticed the blood.

But twice I had very serious issues:

Once I removed a big toe playing with match box cars (because I'm just that intense when it comes to playing with matchbox cars) and when Mom told me it was time for dinner I told her I was bleeding.  She told me to rinse my cut off in the sink and I told her I couldn't reach the sink.  She came in to help me and I think she screamed and rushed me to the ER.  That's how we all found out I couldn't feel pain.

A second time (by now Mom was a seasoned pro) I managed to remove a heal by getting my foot stuck in the spinning spokes of the back tire on a bicycle whilst racing down hill.  I asked for a band-aid after being carried home to my Mom.  Yup... more screaming... another ER...

I got better.  In fact, as time went by I grew out of it.  Essentially, I am pretty lucky in that now, and probably since I was about 10 or 11, I feel pain.

Both of these events happened to me before I was 7 and as best as I can tell the greatest residual effect of these happening to me are not the small scar on the top of one heal or the one toe that seems to have a false or misplaced tendon underneath.  Nope, it's that I will say "OUCH" without any thought if I feel anything that isn't obviously painful.

See, my folks had to encourage me to say "ouch" whenever I felt anything.  Basically there was always the chance that I'd remove a limb playing with Lego's and the only thing that would prevent me from bleeding out would be me saying "ouch" while I tried to make a house out of all blue bricks.

I was trained to respond to any stimulus as pain.

Anyway, I caught myself saying "ouch" as I put my seat belt on this morning (much like I still say "excuse me" when I burp alone) and suddenly all of these thoughts popped into my head.  So, I thought I'd go ahead and blog for the first time in four months.

Yup, four months of silence and THIS is what I give you!

I hope you are well.