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Margaret Anna Alice's avatar

Thank you for these poignant and provocative reflections, Leslie. I have been thinking about pain a lot lately given my recent back injury.

As you’ve rightly noted, pain—whether physical, emotional, or psychological—can prompt growth, provided we’re open to it. This is one of the lessons of Stoicism I have been trying to integrate, as challenging as it can be in the midst of the suffering.

What you’ve described here Seneca succinctly captures in, “Misfortune is virtue’s opportunity.”

Not virtue in the contemporary, self-congratulating sense but rather in the sense that our response to adversity can enrich our character, expand our empathy, strengthen our resilience, and deepen our wisdom. This applies on both the individual and societal level.

As W. Clement Stone writes:

“Every adversity contains within it the seed of an equivalent, or greater, benefit.”

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Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH's avatar

The Covid pandemic was a litmus test on who in our families and community was so susceptible to the fear-mongering around germs. The fact of the matter is that biological systems are strongest and are the most sustainable when they are the most complex...in other words, most of us benefit from exposure to other the biomes of other people (though people who are immuno-compromised cannot afford such exposures).

Sadly, however, science is too technical for some people, and they allowed physicians and scientists who had jobs that demanded fear-mongering by their employers...and anyone connected to a university was required to do the most fear-mongering or Tony Fauci and the NIH would not fund their universities projects. Shame on Fauci and the NIH!

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