Frailty by Design?

I have a tendency to throw my back out. It’s one of those little life skills you wish you could unlearn.

If pain, as C. S. Lewis asserts, “God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world,” what ain’t I hearing?

My chiropractor and I, both single, were talking about how one of the harder things about being single is when things do go wrong, there is no one to rely on besides yourself with the day to day tasks. This conversation started by her commenting on my high pain tolerance, and my response that since there was no one else to function for me, I had to do it regardless of how I felt.

While it may seem appropriate for a scholar, walking around in the shape of a question mark is nonideal. 

I find myself thinking of the elderly folks I see who shuffle along and mover slower than a dog’s tail in August in West Texas. I wonder if they are in pain like me or what other cause slows them down so.

Who’s idea was it anyway to have a being’s entire structure dependent on a single thin column of bone? Surely this is one of those design flaws that skeptics like to throw in our faces as to just how bad of an engineer God must be. Any plumber, engineer, construction worker or the sort will tell you that joints are points of failure, so it is vital to have the minimum joints possible to meet the requirements.

It just proves those skeptics aren’t engineers.

Good engineering is based on optimization of competing and often conflicting factors, elements and processes. In this case, support and ruggedness are competing with flexibility and fluidity of motion. If we had ribs all the way down, we’d be unable to touch our toes or be in fetal position during gestation. If we had fewer vertebrae (and therefore less chance of one slipping out of alignment), we’d not have the range of motion we do. If we had two columns of vertebrae, it would only double our chances of something going out, wouldn’t improve flexibility, and would not really help function in the event of a problem. I’ve noticed that when one part of the back hurts, nearly ALL mobility is hampered. This is the hallmark of a vital system—failure there has percolating ramifications throughout most/all other systems.

Thus, joints are required, and effort is made to reinforce them against failure, but it is impossible with this universe’s physics to eliminate the opportunity for failure. Injury and genetic variation can increase those opportunities, and they must be dealt with. Fortunately, there are mechanisms in place that allow for the correction and healing of those failures. Not to mention the wonderful pain meds that muffle that #$%$#% megaphone!

I just wish the healing part was as quick as the failure part. Back to bed…

SDG