Posted by Steven on 4/4/2008, 9:55:07, in reply to "Pain"
76.187.106.26
How would Ivan Turgenev answer this question?
The problem is that the poor peasants are suffering [your injury], but the rest of Russia doesn't know or care. So Turgenev writes a series of stories called A Sportsman's Notebook. The book is the message [your pain] that alerts the public [you] to the injustice. But Tsar Nicholas [your doctor] doesn't want people stirred up over this, so he has his secret police [your drugs] suppress the book and throw Turgenev into prison and later into exile.
The censors [drugs] can edit the story [reduce the pain] or suppress it altogether [stop the pain]. But though the book no longer reaches its readership, it still exists, which prompts the further action of exiling the author.
So, philosophically speaking, I think the pain still exists because it continues to motivate you to take action even while it isn't being felt.
In the meantime, a new Tsar [doctor] Alexander II comes along, reads the book and, instead of punishing the messenger, frees the serfs [cures the ailment]. Let us at least hope that is what happens in your case.
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