ference, but it doesn’t always
help. The numbers are subjective.
Furthermore, the dramatizations
of the opioid crisis have
left us collectively thinking that
people in pain inflate their pain
in an attempt for sympathy or
worse, are just seeking drugs.
DRAMATIZATION
OF PAIN
The star quarterback gets hurt
during a game. His doctor gives
him some pain meds. Fast forward
a month and our quarterback
is looking strung out, having
fits of irrational behavior,
stealing from his parents and
will lie and cheat to get his
hands on the ‘good stuff’. Such
storytelling was the lubricant
that helped America swallow the
narrative of the opioid crisis. It
worked for a while in TV but if
you saw it now you’d probably
cringe. Or you should.
The voices of those in pain are
gradually being heard. Heard
enough that the ‘star quarterback’
narrative is being called
out for what it is – lazy manipulation.
Jeff Sessions triggered a
10 — iPain Living Magazine
‘Twitter storm’ with his aspirin
comment. I follow the chronic
pain community on social media
and I’m glad to see that people
are taking the risk of being honest.
But it is a risk.
Once you are a person in pain,
can you ever be anything but
that? Once you have cancer can
you ever be anything but a cancer
patient? Is a doctor ever not
a doctor; a criminal ever not a
criminal? How do we overcome
this dramatic label?
NEW FACES OF
PAIN
We must ensure that others see
that the pain community is not
made up of “people in pain”. It
is made up of people. If we want
others to empathize and understand
the pain-struggle we have
to change how people see us.
Where is chronic pain in poetry
and music? Where is chronic
pain in art and literary fiction?
Where is it in the everyday
world?
You may be a civil engineer
with a bad “mom” tattoo and be
in chronic pain.
You may be a single mother
who has a secret recipe for pizza
empanadas and be in chronic
pain.
You may be that actor from that
commercial whose name I can’t
remember and be in chronic
pain.
You may be a grandmother who
owns a small business and takes
her grandkids to Disney World
every other year and be in
chronic pain.
We need to let people see the
faces of chronic pain. We’re not
just a frowny face, or a frowny
crying face, we are your parent,
your sibling, your neighbor,
your constituent. We are weak,
we are strong, we are whiney,
we are stoic. We hide it, complain
about it, downplay it and
cry over it. Pain does not erase
our dreams of becoming a park
ranger, or a dancer, or a fire
fighter, or president of something
meaningful that changes
the world.
Find new ways to express the
pain in your life. Let others see
how complex it is. Break the existing
model. Make it new.
(Connued from page 9)