My brother's knee is F@#$%#$ up!
Bro,
Ouch.
Shit REALLY happens
Well, I guess, on the positive side, looking at it from the "half-full" point of view, at least it's repairable...sort of. I'd definitely get a few opinions, though. I'm sure you're aware that only 5% of doctors are only 5% correct 99.55% of the time. The other 95% haven't a clue as to what the hell they're doing 100% of the time, and they would be---shoud be---painting numbers on curbs with a troop of urban-nomadic gypsies, or some equally parasitic profession, if their parents hadn't been rich enough to send them to USC.
Anyway, speaking of Neandertals, I remember, from an anthropology course I dropped out of, a picture of a femur and a shin bone found near Lasceaux---Neandertalensis, I believe. I remember it because of the visceral cringe I felt when the teacher described the poor knuckledragger's condition at the time of his death. Neander-guy was about 40 years old (an unimaginably long life for a pre-socialist European living 35,000 years ago); his knee joint had, for all practical purposes, been ground to nothing. His femur rode directly on top of the shin bone, and it had evidently been doing so for years...and years. They could tell so because both bones were substantially shorter than their counterparts on his other leg, and the ends were matched together perfectly, having created a fairly workable "joint." The interesting thing, though, is that he had not only lived for many years that way, but they could tell from the wear pattern that he had been walking with a fairly normal albeit uneven gait, and that he'd done so for many years. The fact that he actually lived to be 40, when the average (adult) lifespan was probably around 18, was miraculous enough. The fact that he did so without a knee was superhuman...or superneandertal...so to speak.
CS Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, surmises that animals---contrary to western liberal thought---do not feel, or experience, pain in the same way humans do (I'll disavow any knowledge of this statement if your little wifey finds out I repeated such heresy). Animals, he conjectures, having no capacity for "thinking outside of themselves" can't long for the pain to cease, can't think to themselves that it might be better if the pain was gone; they could only experience the here and now, and thus the pain was simply a part of existing, like breathing, rather than something to be endured until....something better comes along. (This is all paraphrased, of course, and I'm likely completely incorrect in my interpretation of CS Lewis' actual intent. He can be a bit confusing, what with his half-page sentences and all).
It's a long conjecture, to be sure, but if so, I assume that's how Neandertal guy toughed it out.
So....cowboy up, dude! Or Neander up! Life'll get worse, enjoy the pain while it's bearable. Just say, Fuck you(!) to all that traitorous bone and cartilage and connective tissue! The happiness of this jammy fecker doesn't ride the confused swells on the seas of misfortune!..... (or something a little more eliquently defiant)...........and grind on, Bro! Grind on.
Your brother in suffering,
Marrs
Ouch.
Shit REALLY happens
Well, I guess, on the positive side, looking at it from the "half-full" point of view, at least it's repairable...sort of. I'd definitely get a few opinions, though. I'm sure you're aware that only 5% of doctors are only 5% correct 99.55% of the time. The other 95% haven't a clue as to what the hell they're doing 100% of the time, and they would be---shoud be---painting numbers on curbs with a troop of urban-nomadic gypsies, or some equally parasitic profession, if their parents hadn't been rich enough to send them to USC.
Anyway, speaking of Neandertals, I remember, from an anthropology course I dropped out of, a picture of a femur and a shin bone found near Lasceaux---Neandertalensis, I believe. I remember it because of the visceral cringe I felt when the teacher described the poor knuckledragger's condition at the time of his death. Neander-guy was about 40 years old (an unimaginably long life for a pre-socialist European living 35,000 years ago); his knee joint had, for all practical purposes, been ground to nothing. His femur rode directly on top of the shin bone, and it had evidently been doing so for years...and years. They could tell so because both bones were substantially shorter than their counterparts on his other leg, and the ends were matched together perfectly, having created a fairly workable "joint." The interesting thing, though, is that he had not only lived for many years that way, but they could tell from the wear pattern that he had been walking with a fairly normal albeit uneven gait, and that he'd done so for many years. The fact that he actually lived to be 40, when the average (adult) lifespan was probably around 18, was miraculous enough. The fact that he did so without a knee was superhuman...or superneandertal...so to speak.
CS Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, surmises that animals---contrary to western liberal thought---do not feel, or experience, pain in the same way humans do (I'll disavow any knowledge of this statement if your little wifey finds out I repeated such heresy). Animals, he conjectures, having no capacity for "thinking outside of themselves" can't long for the pain to cease, can't think to themselves that it might be better if the pain was gone; they could only experience the here and now, and thus the pain was simply a part of existing, like breathing, rather than something to be endured until....something better comes along. (This is all paraphrased, of course, and I'm likely completely incorrect in my interpretation of CS Lewis' actual intent. He can be a bit confusing, what with his half-page sentences and all).
It's a long conjecture, to be sure, but if so, I assume that's how Neandertal guy toughed it out.
So....cowboy up, dude! Or Neander up! Life'll get worse, enjoy the pain while it's bearable. Just say, Fuck you(!) to all that traitorous bone and cartilage and connective tissue! The happiness of this jammy fecker doesn't ride the confused swells on the seas of misfortune!..... (or something a little more eliquently defiant)...........and grind on, Bro! Grind on.
Your brother in suffering,
Marrs
posted by Jefferson | 4:39 PM
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