5 Erroneous Thoughts on Wishful Thinking -
When I was a child, the idea of breaking a limb had intrigued me so much that it came true eventually. I had to learn a lesson the hard way. Literally so, because it was a very hard fall indeed.
5 Erroneous Thoughts on Breaking a Limb
I had been thinking about the notion that it is possible to break a limb for quite some time before it actually happened. First, I fancied the idea of a broken leg. Probably, because people who had a broken leg seemed to get a whole lot of sympathy — and many visitors writing their signatures on the plaster cast.
Erroneous thought number 1: You get to choose which limb you will break.
Nope — not, if you land on your right arm and break that one instead of the leg you had imagined you would be breaking.
Erroneous thought number 2: Having a limb immobilised in a plaster cast is a whole lotta fun.
Nope — not, if your plaster cast has several layers of bandages on top, so you can’t write on it, at all. AND the top layers get changed every day. And definitely not when the limb below starts to itch when it begins to heal, but you can’t EVER get to it to relieve it, because it all happens down below the thick layers of plaster cast and the layers of bandages on top.
Oh, and definitely not, once your limb starts to hurt again, but you are not allowed anymore pain killers, because you are only a kid. THEN you do not want to see anyone, because you are simply not going to have any fun, and feels like never again.
Erroneous thought number 3: When out of hospital, you and your broken limb will get loads of sympathy and help by all the other kids. Nope — not, if everyone is off to your school’s annual sports event the day you are back, and you have to watch them having fun from a distance, while you are bored out of your mind waiting for the day to be over. Utterly sad, but noone notices.
Erroneous thought number 4: You will be wearing the plaster cast for a few weeks, your limb heals and then it is all back to normal. Nope — not, if your fracture is a complicated one, i.e. one that heals slowly, and one that leaves you with pain for years to come, right about every time you put pressure on said limb.
Erroneous thought number 5: You think every experience in life brings you some kind of benefit, is worth it. Nope — not, if the whole experience sucks so much that you come to the conclusion that you have been really silly wishing for it to happen in the first place. But hey — errare humanum est — to err is human, isn’t it! And to know that is worth something.
Or, as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice said after he had made a mess of things:
“From the spirits that I called, Sir, deliver me!”
Wishful Thinking at Work
The day it happened, I would never have dreamed of it, of course!
I was nine years old then. My two years younger brother, a friend and I had been playing on the green of the property next door. The owners had torn down a shed recently. All debris was left there piled up next to the house.
What an invitation for us to come and play!
We built a seesaw stacking up four or five bricks and put a long plank of wood on top of it. It was real fun during the five or ten minutes it lasted. First, my friend and I were sitting on the plank at either end. Then it occurred to us that it was probably even more fun to stand up. We did that, still bobbing up and down for another couple of times.
THEN the timber plank came off the pile of bricks catapulting me into a sideways direction. I landed in the grass with a loud “thump” and a nasty chrunching noise. I knew that something had gone wrong, but I could not feel any pain — yet. When I got up to take a look at my wrist, the other two started laughing out loudly, evidently not thinking about ME in the least. (Kids, eh?!)
I must admit, the wrist DID look funny. It had taken on the shape of a crooked stick with my hand being somewhat off its usual position, i.e. no longer in line with my forearm. I remember looking at it in a horrified way, not knowing whether to tune into the laughter, or break out into tears. I did neither, but ran off towards our house instead.
I kept saying over and over “my arm is bent, my arm is bent”, panic spreading through me while I was running up the stairs. My mother opened the door and instantly saw my bent arm, as I was holding it out in front of me like it was some object I had found outside.
But would SHE comfort me? Nope. All I do know is that I burst out into tears, as the shock of what had happened finally sieved through my conscience, triggering the pain I had not felt until then. We rushed off to hospital and I got home in a lot of pain, but with no plaster cast to write on.
Was it worth the experience?
In a nutshell: Nope! — Well, yeah, alright!
I regretted every minute of having to go through the experience. It felt a stupid and foolish thing to be wishing for in hindsight. But I did not see at the time that I should have been careful not to wish for something that could result in unforeseen consequences.
You might say that it was just an accident, nothing to do with me at all. But, you see, I have a gut feeling that I WAS supposed to learn a lesson back then. What do you think?
My thoughts in February of the year 2 #P.C. (Post Corona)
Sue
