Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Itch and Scratch

An Itch is a paradoxical thing of being. Its existence consists of calling attention to itself so that it may be replaced with a different sensation, usually that of pain.

The Itch thus appears to be the greatest loser in the universe. It has apparently no other purpose in life except to actively seek its own demise. It's definitely one of the most hated things in the world, what with a thousand and one anti-Itch creams, gells and what-have-yous.

Would you want to be an Itch?

But before making a foregone conclusion, let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Without Itch, Scratch would never have gotten so popular!! And we all know how good Scratch feels.

"A little lower...a little higher...a bit more to the left...", and here comes the climax, "YES!! YES!!!!(or some other unspeakable moaning of satisfaction of your choice)"

Scratching may feel good at first, but to Scratch is to induce pain that is only temporarily masked by the relief of the Itch. Once the Itch is eliminated, one is left with damaged and reddened skin to show for it. Some people even scratch themselves so much that they actually bleed.

Now let's take another step back and look at an even bigger picture. What I've been trying to say...(YES!! You didn't blow away 5 mins of your life reading crap. Or 10 if you read slow. Or 15....you get the idea.)...is that you can apply the idea of Itch and Scratch to LIFE!! (LIFE is bigger than life!! That sounded so cool in a corny way.)

Let's take Itch to be the Temptations In LIFE and Scratching to be Taking the Easy Way Out aka Giving In.

As human beings, we experience lots of Itches and so we often Scratch them instead of applying anti-Itch thingies, even though we know Scratching is bad for us.

"It's Troublesome!"

"I don't have an anti-Itch thingy readily available."

"I'm just going to Scratch a little."

In short, excuses.

It's so easy to Give In when you're facing Temptations and once you start you'll find it hard to stop. You may feel good for the time being, but ultimately you're just doing harm to yourself.

Next time you have an Itch and you are about to Scratch it, think about it.