Injury Time

It has been one of those months! About 3 weeks back I burnt my wrist by accidentally pouring piping (via the microwave) hot porridge over it. The result being a sight that appeared to resemble 1st degree burns. This was coupled two weeks ago with twisting my ankle while popping out for a quick supposedly timesaving run.. So much for trying to make good food and attempting to get fit! Saying that, none of us can predict what is going to happen next.

One of the things I have learnt since my most recent injury is the difficulty associated with getting back to the road of recovery. Most people are probably tired of my story of how I was about to launch into an accelerated pace and then unknowingly putting my foot into jeopardy between a pavement slab and a grass verge. However, in my view the most cutting part of the story is what happened when I fell…

Landing on my hands and onto a grass verge between the pavement area, I immediately tried to sit-up. I shrieked words to distract my brain from the pain from the ankle area. I also noticed two girls on the opposite side of the street. It appeared as if they were laughing at my fall, or maybe I was just being paranoid. They were standing in front of their house, inside their drive-in. After a few moments, or literally a few seconds they were joined by their mother, who appeared to have emerged from parking her car in the same drive-in. She too chuckled before they collectively marched and retreated to into their house, closing firmly the front door behind them. In the meantime, I rocked backwards and forwards and tried to stand-up.

The walk home took about 10minutes so the run I went on was disastrous. Firstly, because of the injury sustained and secondly because the total calorific cardio burn probably resulted in very low (single digit) number!

Recovering from an ankle sprain or any personal injury can be a drain on ones sources, not forgetting those around you that have to put up with, in my case, the fuss I make. What was even more disappointing was the attitude that I had to put-up with on the day of the fall. I wondered what I would do if someone had fallen down in front of my house. I would certainly rush out and see if they were OK.

If we magnify the varying attitude to each other from a worldwide perspective, we know that the road or house we live in is simply territorial. Eventually, each country is joined by the same soil. Possessiveness about national boundaries is irrelevant. The world is already injured by the rate of deforestation, affecting us all, for example, one country produces 25% of the world’s pollution but has a 4% recycling performance. There are also those that cannot receive enough aid or drugs to reduce their pain due to disease. Are we no better than those that laughed at my fall by ignoring the suffering on our doorstep?

Ending on a positive, its great that there are many that give selflessly and are an example to others. Instead of chasing celebrities that are only reflecting one dimension of life, i.e.: a reflection of our own, collectively we need to work on not standing for politicians that provide limited smiles of assurance. Today the world needs less time to be spent on deliberating pain and more on reducing injury time - with the potential of accepting our responsibility to each other. Write to your MP to put pressure on the UK government to consider that the G8 summit in GlenEagles in July could make a difference to reduce the world’s suffering.