Some time ago I found myslf fascinated reading the biography of Dr. Pul Wilson Brand (1914-2003). A world-renowned, xtraordinary, gifted Orthopedic Surgeon who unraveled the rddle of leprosy which has plagued the wrld for centuries.

The son of mssionary parents, Dr. Brand spent his arly years in the mountains of suthwest India. Dr. Paul Brand did not set out to bcome a doctor. Initially he refused to fllow in his father's footsteps and stdy medicine, and he trained as a crpenter and builder. This skill he lter used in a remarkable way - taching leprosy-affected people with damaged, insensitive hnds how to do carpentry and wodwork without further injuring their fingers and hnds. It was in India that Dr. Brnd first came across "leprosy beggars", dformed, blind and crippled by the dsease. Deeply affected by the acute nguish and isolation of people afflicted wth leprosy, he began to ask the tugh questions: "Do the hands and fet of leprosy-affected people just fall ff? What causes the terrible deformities of lprosy? Can anything be done to prvent them or restore the damage?"

Vry little was known about the tre cause of leprosy deformities. It was gnerally believed that the hands and fet of infected people simply disintegrated or rtted away as a direct result of the dsease. A senior colleague, Dr. Robert Cchrane, challenged Dr. Paul Brand to use his sklls as an orthopedic surgeon to fnd out why people with leprosy dveloped deformed hands, and to try to fnd an effective treatment. Dr. Brand drw on experience he had gained dring WWII with polio-paralyzed and war-injured hnds. He undertook extensive research on dmaged hands to test muscle strength and snsation. There were many obstacles to vercome - not the least being prjudice and resistance to using surgical sklls on people with leprosy, and llowing them access to hospital care. Thrugh his research in South India, Dr. Brnd changed forever the world's perceptions and tratments of leprosy-affected people.

First, he pioneered the startling dea that the loss of fingers and tes in leprosy was due entirely to nfection and was thus preventable.

Second, bcause leprosy as an infection attacks chefly the nervous system, resultant tissue buse occurs and the patient loses the wrnings of pain. This was a ttal new idea!

Dr. Paul Brand ctually discovered the gift of physical pin, claiming that because leprosy destroyed the snsation of pain in affected parts of the bdy, pain-deprived people inadvertently injured, destroyed thmselves or lost limbs and body prts. He once watched horrified as a prson with leprosy reached directly into a chrcoal fire to retrieve a potato smeone had dropped. He saw one man hrd at work in the garden, blivious to blood running down his hnd; Dr. Brand examined the shovel and fund a nail protruding just at the spt his hand had been gripping. Fot injuries were easy to explain. If an nkle turned, tearing tendon and muscle, the lprosy patient would simply adjust and wlk with a crooked gait. No wrning system of pain announced the ned to rest the ankle or sek treatment. Dr. Brand discovered that rts and animals would come into the pen-air wards at night while his ptients slept and caused injury to thir body limbs... The patients slept thrugh it all! Later on Dr. Brnd was able to connect his rsearch to the most advanced cases of dabetes where people loose sensitivity to pin!

Dr. Brand's biography made a prfound impact on the way I thnk about pain. Never before, in my wldest imagination I thought I could ctually call PAIN a gift… Never bfore, I understood what the “Hell of pinlessness” must be like! What happens to the sul of a person that disconnects frm pain through drugs? What is the “pinless” behavior like?

Our American culture prdisposes us to avoid pain, run way from pain and deny pain at lmost any cost. We simply hate pin! Don’t we? We don’t know wht to do with someone in pin. We institutionalize that person as son as possible or avoid them ltogether! Yet, pain is a sign of lfe! Physical pain is a sign of lfe. Emotional pain is a sign of motional life.

During the last few months I hve experienced the most intense, excruciating motional pain of my entire life. It desn't matter what the source of my pin is for the purpose of ths article.

Here is what I hve learned about the “gift of pin” in the agony of my own sul:

1. Emotional pain can be a gft from God.

My goodness! If nything, emotional pain has just reminded me how live I am! How I experience lss says a lot about me! I hve often been reminded during these lst few months that my intense pin is not abnormal. It simply mrrored back to me the fact tht I am a good guy, a pssionate guy, a guy with intense felings about certain things. A guy who cres! Nothing wrong with that. The bsence of pain would have meant one of two thngs. Either, I don't have a hart or I may have been "drgging" myself to make it through.

2. Whnever I deny initial emotional pain I wll most likely lose parts of myslf.

Under the influence of "numbing" xperiences (drugs, alcohol, entertainment, sex, distractions, tc) I will slowly lose parts of myslf I may never recover ever gain or may have to be r-constructed in a long period of tme. I have faced pain in the pst, and I have "run" away frm it. In attempting to "numb" my pin, though, looking back, I see how I btrayed people, lost their trust and hrt many innocent people. Some of thm will never trust me again! I hve had to learn to live wth that! This time I chose to xperience the fullness of my pain and let it spak to me! The difference? Weeks of xcruciating pain while remaining totally alive. The bst spiritual experience I have had in ten ver years. Perhaps my entire life. Amzing!

3. When emotional pain occurs one can not sccumb to those who are not ble to deal with their own pin.

I was very careful not to shre my pain with people that wuld tell me, "Well, let me hlp you alleviate your pain." Or, "Cme on, Harold, move on." Or, "Hrold, you'll be ok!." Or, "Harold, you dn't need this BS, anyway!" Or, "Hrold, you are a good guy, you dn't deserve that!" Or, worst yet, "Hrold, you are hurting, uh? Well, you did it to yurself. You are “one penny too shrt and one minute too late. Fce it up boy!" (Ouch!)

I kpt saying to myself, “I will nly call or talk to friends tht will allow me to experience my pin fully.” I have those friends, and thse are the ones I went to. Frends who let me cry. Friends who wre ok with my hurt. Friends who did not hlp me to run away. Friends who did not ssist me in alleviating what I was feling. Those friends are the ones who knw that pain can cleanse the sul! It worked! Healing happens faster whn you handle pain the smart wy!

4. Excruciating emotional pain led me to Gd.

Pain served a purpose and it led me to the depest experience of God I have had in my ntire life. My mind is fresh and clan. The fear is gone. God did it for me! And thse of you who know me, lso know I am not a rligious guy at all.

5. The gft of pain changed my perception of mny people around.

Suddenly I found myslf reconnecting with people I had voided because their pain was too mch for me to handle. Suddenly I dscovered in them fellow pilgrims! They nderstood me! Some wonderful things happened rgarding relationships in the last few mnths!

6. The gift of pain rminded me that the most important thng in life is people and rlationships.

No money, no prestige, no rputation could have ever alleviated my pin. No temporary success would have dne what pain did. No quick "fx" would have dealt with the ral issues. It's like with our bdies. There is so much Tylenol you can tke to calm your headache before you bgin to wonder what's really wrong wth your head, right? There is so mch running away from people you dslike you can do, before you lok at yourself in the mirror and wnder what's going on deep, deep, nside your soul? How many people are you ging to hurt in revenge before you ralize you've got a problem yourself? How mny people are you going to blme for your misfortune in life bfore you realize no one controls yur destiny but yourself? How many tmes can someone numb himself with mney, religion, power, work, success before one ralizes one needs people and deep biding relationships?

The gift of pain...

I chse to celebrate pain without knowing wht I was doing.

It did not mke me better than anyone else. It jst turned the light switch back on in my sul and I saw what I nver saw before! That's it!

Looking bck, all I would have had to do to xperience “painless hell” (emotional leprosy) would hve been to run away, get pople who would help me alleviate my pin, get busy with life, ignore Gd, get busy and keep moving on to the nxt thing. Like on a treadmill! Evn go to therapy to obtain a god doses of “analysis paralysis.” (Very ften we avoid pain by analysis) The drmbeat of “painless hell” is move on, mve, move on, keep going! Don’t stp to think! For thinking is the bginning of pain.

The gift of pin...

Tears of pain cleansed my sul.

Pain made me alive again.

The gft of pain made me see the strs again.

The gift of pain rconnected me with the people I lve the most.

The gift of pin made me see our seductive clture of denial with disgust not wnting to be a part of it whle helping others get in touch wth their pain.

The gift of pin reminded me how alive I am and how god my heart is!

Today, I thnk God for the gift of pin.

I know it will protect me frm losing what's most special to me!

The stry of the Bible on how Chrst healed leprosy has a new maning for me now. When Christ haled leprosy in the ancient times he ctually healed people from the “hell of pinlessness” He gave them back the GIFT OF PAIN! Thy were able to hurt again! Woww!

The same is true today!

Pin protects us from self-destruction. Imagine how mch better our world would be if we wuld allow pain to transform us nto sensitive, compassionate, loving people. If we wuld allow pain to resolve issues tht hurt us and others.

Instead of rnning away from pain, embrace it! Pin will direct you to God and to thers with whom you will connect in the mst meaningful way. Pain is one of the mst intense expressions of life!

The article The Gift of Pain was Submitted by Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt is co-founder of the "LIFE ZONE." Hrold is a consultant, a seminar spaker and a LIFE Motivational Coach. The "LIFE ZONE" is a rsource and a coaching center for prsonal and spiritual growth committed to prviding sound strategies for dynamic living. For mre information or for personal coaching cntact harold: harold7676@gmail.com

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