More Thoughts From Hume

According to Hume:

"If we think of a wound, we can scarcely forbear reflecting on the pain which follows it."

I would argue quite the contrary. I draw a pretty direct correlation between the number of wounds or injuries currently afflicting my body and my quality of life. Thus, I have often been known to receive a wound and reflect on the healthy state of my life immediately afterward, without ever pausing to ruminate on whatever pain has been caused. For instance, two weeks ago, while playing softball, I slid and reopened a number of scrapes to my leg. The immediate, and sole, response was one of joy.

Admittedly, I refer generally to simple injuries: scrapes, cuts, and bruises. But even in the abstract, taking Hume literally, when I think of serious injuries to myself, I'm not likely, with a few exceptions, to actually think about the pain. For instance, after being electrocuted in Greece, the right side of my body was in pain for three days. This fact notwithstanding, ninety percent of the time that anecdote it recounted, the pain subsequent is not even mentioned, much less actually reflected upon. Rather, the subject is how wonderfully odd my life was that I might, in the middle of the day, be electrocuted.

So, take that, my friend Hume.