Pain comes in all strengths and sizes. During our 2 weeks on the road, and well before that, our director Jon has been experiencing various degrees of pain from certain issues that have dogged him relentlessly, only easing long enough to let him appreciate what Normal is. This is crippling, annoying, tiring, and frustrating pain. Ask Jon for the definition of pain, and he will smile, and wonder where to begin.

As I type this, my left leg is giving me a reminder that I’ve done 149 miles on the bike in 2 days, and that I didn’t work out enough before I hit the road for Louisiana. This is a fleeting, temporary message, and we can choose to take heed, and address the cause, or tough it out, hoping  it will pass soon. We try to move on, and forget it.

Heartbreak. Books have been written about how best to face this demon that can bury us alive in anguish, depression, sorrow, and self pity. Suffering of a magnitude unmeasured tears at so many of us who hurt so deeply within our ravaged hearts that some never find their way to love again. Crushing, terrible hurt.

Some feel all three types of pain I’ve listed, and at once. It lingers, and circles around. It dives deep, and grabs hold. It annoys and reminds us when we don’t expect it. It lives at different levels in our lives, and never really moves on. This is the pain felt by those who have lost their homes,  and feel they’ll never find that comfortable  place again. Many from New Orleans carry this array of pain, wherever they may now live. Every day, they carry on, quietly and carefully, so as not to stir the embers. It’s time to listen. They will help us learn how not to let this happen again.

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