Pain Proves Life

After my car accident, in order to determine the level of my spinal cord injury, doctors poked me with pins. The logic: if I cried and/or screamed as a 3-year old getting pricked by pins would, then I could feel the pain. If I didn't, well I couldn't. Side Note: this is no accounting for the fact that I could SEE the pins coming and did not take kindly to the clear probability of being stabbed repeatedly by people who were supposed to be caring for me! Throughout the years, I have found that, much like those pin pricks, pain proves life. When I am struggling through a challenge or dealing with an inner conflict, I end up coming to some realization about life that I never would have found if not for the pain. Now, we may see pins coming and begin crying and screaming (and maybe even running), but ultimately it is only the prick of that pin that can show us where death and darkness end and the light of life begins.