Ouch! Her pain is killing me!

Some people feel pain….
And some people just don’t!
You know like the kids who fall and bruise themselves? So, you have one kid who will cry for 10 minutes and will only get calm with a lolly and a bright red bandaid. Then you have the kid who will just pick themselves up, brush off the dirt from their fall, and move right on.
It reminds me of a kid I once knew who was like that. He broke a bone in his hand! He went to the doctor, got a cast, and that was the end of that ordeal…. Or so his parents thought…. About a week later, he was climbing on the couch to reach a book… And fell…. On the hand that he broke! His hand literally snapped into two! When at the doctor to recare for his wound, the doctor asked him what his pain was. ” On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the least and 10 being the most, what number would you say it is?” Answer: “2”!!!! I guess this boy has a high pain tolerance.
The funny part about this story is that when it comes to this boys ego you had better watch out! Like if you even hint at his incompetency, boy are you in for a beating!
I guess PHYSICAL pain and EMOTIONAL pain are entirely two separate entities.
Like some people can handle an insult just fine, and some people just fly off their rocker.
Which brings me to the point of this article. Many a time, we feel more pain than the people that are actually experiencing the pain. We cry for them. We pray for them. We visit them. We care for them. But all to no avail. Nothing changes. They cry to us. They vent to us. We watch them suffer and our hearts are torn apart. We  wonder, how can such a merciful G-d bring on such suffering to one person. We don’t understand. We start to lose our faith…. Now here is a conclusion that I’ve come to after many years of pondering this idea.
There is only one reason that G-d created such a phenomenon in this world. One reason so simple it almost sounds like it can’t be true! There is only one reason that G-d created the concept of pain. And that is……
That pain forces us to CHANGE!
People run away from pain. People will do anything to escape their reality when it comes to pain. They run to drugs, food, friends, doctors (and you can fill in the rest). They cry. They laugh. They become numb. They control. They obsess. All to escape the experience of PAIN.
Like when we put our hand next to fire we feel pain. Which will force us to move our hand! When we have fever we are alerted to a mishap in our body. We need to change our diet. When our car breaks down we need to get it fixed!
Unlike physical change, character change is a whole different realm. CHARACTER CHANGE IS VERY VERY PAINFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! So painful, that we will do anything within our means to escape the pain and thereby avoid change! (Now that I think about it, why are Obama fans so pro change if change brings on pain? His fans don't seem to give me the impression that they are the ones that like to embrace pain...)
Which brings me back to my initial thought.
We cannot change anyone else but ourselves. Everyone experiences pain to some degree. Everyone is put in this world to perfect their character. We may empathize with someone else’s pain. We may be supportive. We may sometimes give good advice. But we CANNOT effect CHANGE in another person.
This thought consoles me, while watching other people experience pain. I feel so bad for them I want so badly to help them with their sorrowful plight. But sometimes my hands are tied.
​Because I may just be feeling  their pain  more than they are feeling it themselves