{"id":14593,"date":"2022-05-17T09:17:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T09:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain"},"modified":"2022-05-17T10:21:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T10:21:58","slug":"the-loneliness-of-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain","title":{"rendered":"The Loneliness of Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.<\/b>
\nFaced with a life racked with pain and misery, I don\u2019t think he would wish to pass beyond what Tennyson calls \u201cthe goal of ordinance Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop\u2026 In the face of pain there on heroes. \u2014 George Orwell The other day I popped in to see my friend Sushil whom I had not seen since Christmas.<\/p>\n

Most unlike him, he took several minutes to answer my knock. Eventually he opened the door and greeted me with his usual smile and invited me in. As I walked into the lounge, I realized there was a problem.<\/p>\n

Because there next to the settee, on the floor was a 12-inch thick mattress. Upon enquiry, he told me that he had been laid low for over a week with severe pain in the lower back.<\/p>\n

Ouch! as a fellow sufferer, I felt for him. Anyway as he regained his bedding, I offered to make the afternoon tea which we had with some biscuits. I stayed my usual quota of one hour and, as per normal, we chatted about everything and nothing.<\/p>\n

Regarding his back, a masseur had called round twice whilst the GP had prescribed him some Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and painkillers.<\/p>\n

Altogether the treatments were having a positive effect, but it was anybody\u2019s guess as to when he might be really fit again. Notwithstanding, he smiled his usual smile throughout our chit-chat and even laughed at some of my silly jokes. When I left at the end I hoped that I left him feeling a tad lighter than when I arrived.<\/p>\n

The Loneliness<\/b><\/p>\n

After I got back home I began to give some serious thoughts to the phenomenon of pain, and came to the conclusion that people in pain must be some of the loneliest people on Earth.<\/p>\n

You have a plaster on your arm for a sprain, and everyone will stop to ask what happened. You have an average dressing on your hand for a small or big cut, and you get plenty of consideration.<\/p>\n

In other words, you will get loads of sympathy for anything, minor or major, for anything that is visible. The big problem with Mr Pain, no matter how severe, is that he is INVISIBLE. People can\u2019t see your pain, no matter how many times you try to explain to them.<\/p>\n

Thus at best they think that it is not as bad as you say; at worst they believe that the problem does not exist at all! Even more seriously, pain often goes untreated if the sufferer is old, delirious, confused, semi-conscious or unconscious.<\/p>\n

In the Third World, governments tend to concentrate on health issues that are visible (and measurable) such as the death rate; and which can earn them plaudits from international organizations. Consequently, according to the Lancet, some 25m of their people die in agonizing pain every year.<\/p>\n

Chronic Pain<\/b><\/p>\n

The causes of pain are many and various, but most of them are acute, that is lasting for a short time. These include post-operative pain, broken limbs, cuts and bruises. Long-term pain, which can last a lifetime, is due to chronic conditions such as Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Parkinsonism.<\/p>\n

Most severe chronic pains are probably associated with old age, especially if the person happens to get something additional like RA on top of the \u201cwear and tear\u201d discomfort of worn-out joints.<\/p>\n

That is why I struggle to understand people who want to live to be a hundred-plus. They always begin by telling you about their maternal uncle Shiva who lived to be 105, and was still able to run to catch the bus and travel the length and breadth of the country.<\/p>\n

But for every Shiva, there are hundreds of old men and women who are incapacitated by the diseases of old age (let\u2019s face it: old age in itself is a serious disease!) and immobilized by debilitating pain.<\/p>\n

You need only visit a geriatric ward or an old people\u2019s home to meet these brave soldiers. However because they are usually out of sight, nobody ever mentions these Mr and Mrs Tithonuses.<\/p>\n

Tithonus<\/b><\/p>\n

I first came across \u201cTithonus\u201d while studying English Literature (alas rarely taught in our schools now) for my SC exams many moons ago. It is a poem that was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson in the guise of an elegy to his close friend Arthur Hallam.<\/p>\n

According to Greek mythology, Eos the Goddess of the Dawn (Roman Aurora) fell in love with Tithonus, a handsome Trojan prince and bore him two boys. However she soon realized that, unlike the Gods, her prince charming was a mere mortal who would grow old and die one day.<\/p>\n

So she beseeched Zeus to endow him with immortality, to which Zeus agreed but somewhat reluctantly. Thus Tithonus acquired eternal life, but Eos omitted to ask for him to be endowed with eternal youth as well.<\/p>\n

I am sure the reader can imagine the rest. Whilst Eos rejuvenates herself at the break of every Dawn, poor Tithonus grows older and more infirm by the day.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately he is condemned to live forever because \u201cthe Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts,\u201d the equivalent of the Hindu Gods\u2019 Vardaan. So as he ages and is afflicted with disease and discomfort, he talks of \u201ccruel immortality\u201d and envies the \u201chappy men who have the power to die.<\/p>\n

\u201d Pathos, indeed!<\/p>\n

No Glory<\/b><\/p>\n

In the circumstances foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life, the biblical three-scores-and-ten. Faced with a life racked with pain and misery, I don\u2019t think he would wish to pass beyond what Tennyson calls \u201cthe goal of ordinance.<\/p>\n

We often hear people say \u201cquality rather than quantity?\u201d Yet far too often science is used to extend life, seemingly without much consideration given to quality.<\/p>\n

Sometimes tiny babes are subjected to a series of complex surgical procedures in an effort to correct severe congenital defects with hardly any consideration for the quality of life they will have even if the operations are successful.<\/p>\n

Likewise reanimation of sick, old people serves humanity badly if we end up with souls in vegetative bodies. There is just no glory in prolonged suffering.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life. Faced with a life racked with pain and misery, I don\u2019t think he would wish to pass beyond what Tennyson calls \u201cthe goal of ordinance Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,16],"tags":[233,246,245,1848],"class_list":["post-14593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-pain"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Loneliness of Pain - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Loneliness of Pain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"The Loneliness of Pain\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\"},\"wordCount\":1077,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Pain\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\",\"name\":\"The Loneliness of Pain - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":530,\"caption\":\"The Loneliness of Pain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Loneliness of Pain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Loneliness of Pain - Lesotho","description":"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Loneliness of Pain","og_description":"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":530,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"The Loneliness of Pain","datePublished":"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain"},"wordCount":1077,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","Lesotho","Pain"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","miscellaneous","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain","name":"The Loneliness of Pain - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-17T09:17:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-17T10:21:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Foolish indeed would be the man who would wish to live beyond the normal span of life.Faced with a life racked w ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_19-62837728e97ae.jpg","width":800,"height":530,"caption":"The Loneliness of Pain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-loneliness-of-pain#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Loneliness of Pain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}