Pain Street
I have a theory. I call it the “Three Streets Theory”. It goes like this:
When you grow up as a city kid, you have three streets that shape you.
These streets and what happens on them teach you invaluable lessons you carry throughout the rest of your life.
For me, the streets were Burholme Avenue, Rhawn Street, and Ferndale Street.
Last week, my youngest daughter, Cecilia, added the first street to her own “Three Streets Theory”.
See, we have a neighborhood street that we regularly walk down named Swain Street…
But my daughters and I renamed it “Pain Street”.
Let me explain.
Inevitably, as sure as the sun will rise, one of my daughters will trip and fall when we walk down Swain Street.
I can caution them, ask them to walk slowly, carry their stuff for them… and they will still trip and fall. The street always leaves them scuffed, bruised, or, occasionally, bloody.
Is it some sinister energy hiding beneath the street? Probably not.
It’s probably just the narrow and jagged sidewalks, cracked and raised from a century of city strolls.
As we were running late for school last Tuesday, I said:
“Girls, we’re not walking down Pain Street this morning. We’re late for school, and we have no time for a hospital visit. We’ll walk around the block to get to the Jeep instead.”
Hearing this plan, my oldest, Everly, was excited that we would do some extra walking before school…
But Cecilia had a different feeling about the route. She stared at me, and I could see her wheels turning as she replied with:
“But, Daddy, how will we learn then?”
The wisdom of her words froze time.
She was referring to what I once mentioned when she fell and scuffed her knee on Pain Street:
“I know it hurts, but the pain has a purpose. It’s here to teach you.”
~
In life, growing doesn’t have to be painful, but often, it is.
If we allow our pain to torture us, we lose.
That’s why we must reframe our pain. We must see its purpose.
We must allow it to teach us.
I have no doubt, Eagle, that you are experiencing some pain in your life as you read this. You aren’t alone. I am, too.
Today, let us prefer the pain. Let us have the strength to see its purpose. Let us learn and turn it into progress…
So it may be our power.
Always by your side,
Joey
