Healing Hurts

It demands that we revisit 
and fully imbibe 
things we'd rather ignore or brush aside.
All of the patchwork we've built up 
in the name of survival and getting-on 
has to be torn down.
The wounds require exposure to the air 
in order to be resolved.
Most of us slap a bandage over the wound, 
protecting it, 
which is, for a while, 
both practical and correct.

But rather than enduring the minor pain 
of the adhesive tugging at our skin 
as the bandage is removed, 
and risk the wound being exposed, 
we choose to slap another bandage on top.
Many of us have built up cathedrals of such bandages.
We build altars of our refusal to heal, 
and create elaborate and ornate avoidance-rituals.
And every time we have the opportunity 
to dig into the hurt 
toward healing,
we opt instead to apply yet another bandage.

Until we are willing to rip off these bandages, 
the wound can never be addressed.
It will hurt a little bit, 
every single time 
we rip one of these bandages away.
And if we've been applying them for many years, 
it may entail round after round of discomfort 
to reach the original bandage covering the wound.
Healing hurts, 
which is precisely why we Humans 
often prefer to avoid it.