Ain't Nuthin' I Can't Handle By Myself

Just an observation: So I fell this morning… right out in the parking lot. I got up, dusted myself off, looked around to make sure no one else had shared my embarrassing lack of gravity, and kept walking. I waited until I was sure I was alone before I checked for damage. I, of course, expected the worst but not really. You know the thoughts of blood gushing down your leg and how exactly you could use it to go home early, but in reality, you think it probably didn’t even bruise… well, it was more in the middle. A straight up, old fashion skinned knee.

Had this been 20 to 25 years earlier in life, I probably would have sat down and cried. I was actually pretty tempted… especially when I dutifully cleaned it with hand sanitizer. I will fight showing it off to my co-workers for a little conversation and pity. I already had my 15 minutes this month with the huge bruises I accumulated on my hands and arms from moving things out of unforgiving and surprisingly sturdy door frames.

A skinned knee would put me in some type of accident prone category that I would have to fight to get out of to show that I am a grown up and not a whinny little child who can’t handle anything.

The thing is though that we put our bodies through a lot. Day to day, we scratch, bump, fall on, trip over, bang, cut, and just hurt ourselves in general. I’m pretty sure that I do it a lot more now than when I was a kid, except now I really don’t have the liberty to scream and throw a fit every time I hurt myself. I think we’d be permanently mute if that were the case. Plus, we need to save it up for when we actually hurt ourselves. Think of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. If we cry out every time something little comes up, when something big actually happens, no one will pay any attention to us… and really people, what is the use of something big happening to us if we don’t get attention? ;)

So man up people. While a skinned knee might make for an interesting time for shaving this week, ain’t nuthin’ I can’t handle by myself.

Kerry
kerry@kerrywentworth.com
www.kerrywentworth.com