Positive Pain?

One of my favorite movies of all time is G.I. Jane. It was a movie made in 1997 that starred Demi Moore. The movie was mostly famous because there was a scene where Demi Moore, wanting to fit in with her male GIs, shaves her head (for real). The movie is inspirational to me, not as a woman's lib fanatic or even an armed forces activist, but because what it signifies as far as perseverance.

I could go on and on with different parts of the movie that are my "favorite parts". Like the time when she refuses to go by different training standards just because she's a woman. Or the time when she tells her doubting boyfriend that the more people try to mess with her, the more she wants to gut it out (said with gritted teeth). Or the time when she endures a beating from her Master Chief and earns the respect of her comrades.

But one of my all time favorite lines in that movie is in regards to enduring pain. Said by the Master Chief in training:

"Pain is your friend, your ally. It will tell you when you are seriously injured. It will keep you awake and angry, and remind you to finish the job and get the hell home. But you know the best thing about pain? It lets you know you're not dead yet."

Perhaps that's a little grim. But I can't argue with the fact that pain, when endured, always leads to greater results. Working out with sore muscles is a very tangible way to relate to that. This week, it seems as though I've been surrounded by pain...whether it's pain I've caused, pain I've seen, pain I've endured, even pain from past experiences that I'm being forced to confront head on because I never dealt with them before. Let's face it. No one asks for pain. But when you come through a painful situation, you always feel better and stronger for having gone through it.

I was waiting in a hospital waiting room on Tuesday. Waiting, thinking, contemplating, wondering. I heard a distant sound of what seemed to be a cry, which very soon after turned to wails and people leaving the waiting room in obvious distress. Something had obviously happened, something painful, and their reaction was heartbreaking. I had to leave the room to go to the restroom and as I did, there were three young teens standing outside the door, sobbing.

I don't normally hug strangers. I love hugs, but strangers....meh, that's just weird. But something inside me told me they needed a hug, even from a stranger. Maybe something even stronger inside of myself said I needed a hug just as much. So I walked over to these two strangers, with hurting hearts and eyes full of pain, and hugged them. They cried harder. They hugged back. I had no idea what to say. Afterall, I didn't even know their names. As we embraced, I just told them that I don't know what they're going through or what they just heard, but I told them I would be praying for them in this moment, this hour of need.

After a short while and after regaining composure, we spoke for a little while and I got their names. Cancer. The news of cancer in the spine of their friend was causing them this pain, their friend who had just gone in for back surgery to ease his pain. And we talked about how it's better to catch cancer before it spreads to far so this can be attacked head on.

Pain sucks. Recovering from pain sucks even more. But the end result of enduring pain always far outweighs the pain itself. We become stronger, better, wiser, happier. We love more. We hurt less. We grow. So perhaps pain, when all is said and done, is actually one of the most positive things in our lives we can endure.