Being Human

I am in serious pain right now. I got my braces off yesterday and I have been ordered to wear a retainer. The retainer hurts, but it isn't as bad as the braces felt after I got them tightened, but this pain is worse. It is a natural human reaction to avoid pain, and I have the opportunity to get rid of the pain very simply, all I have to do is pull out the retainer, and that's that. With the braces you don't have that option, so you just deal with the pain, but this is worse. I am being tortured on a physiological level. This retainer is testing my humanity, my ability to overcome the naturally human instinct to avoid pain. This situation I'm in reminds me of the flinch game that kids play. The idea is that if you flinch as someone is going to punch you then you end up getting a worse punishment, but that in essence is such an awful game. You are reward kids for not flinching, and punishing them for an instinct that comes naturally, and is actually useful in our lives. I flinch, and I am proud of that. I know that if some day a mugger tries to punch me, I can use my flinching ability to avoid the attack and run away. We, as a society, are trying to distance ourselves from our humanity, because it limits us from achieving all that we can, but without those limits, we'd all die. If you can deal with the pain in your mouth, then you can achieve more in dental science, and if you don't flinch, then you seem brave, and can reflect the idea that because of our advanced human societies, the natural instinct of flinching is no longer needed because of our dominance of the physical world. But at the same time there is a reason why we feel pain, and why we flinch. If pain wasn't uncomfortable, then we'd all kill ourselves accidentally, and if flinching didn't exist then we'd all be eaten by bears. I'm going to bed now, and am going to continue in my crusade to defy my humanity, because in the end of the day that is a part of being human, trying not to be.
Thank you for reading,
Julian Vargas