Who knows pain?

Pain has long been a close friend of mine. When I was like 2 I spilled rice soup on my leg and left a life long third degree burn scar. A reminder and almost a memento of my early acquaintance with pain. I do not remember the burn (I still have the scar) but I do remember my first serious amount of pain after the burn. My brother convinced my to ride my bike off a jump he made. I was terrible at riding a bike and at this point I had yet to master the fine art of turning. Because I loved him and at the ripe age of seven already weighed in at a whopping 75lbs he thought I would have a higher success rate then him. Actually he thought this could really hurt me so I will let my little brother do it. The jump was a piece of plywood about 1/2in thick and about 3feet long and 2 feet wide. The cooler was about 18 inches high. If your any good at geometry you will see that is a very steep jump for a 7 year old who can only ride a bike in a straight line. So I test it as all young stuntmen do and I expressed my concern the best way I knew how. I refused to do it cause I was scared. I was then force to do it through the dare and your a chicken taunt. I was also instructed that if I rode really fast I would be fine. So at full speed from almost a block away ( I was so far cause I had to kick the pedals my feet would not reach the bottom most point of the pedal revolution). I hit the jump and sail through the air as planned and for a moment there was such freedom that my word would not be able to express it. Then gravity took over and hit the ground with such force that I was bounced from the seat to the back wheel. Where my young tender area was ground in such a way as to make me wish that I was a girl. Yes that was such pain that I wonder if even now I bear some internal scar from it. I rode that out in terrible pain until I was able to loosen my grip from the handle bars and crumble in pain. Ah yes and he was so proud he laughed yelled how proud he was! For me when the pain was gone his praises made it all worth it in the end. I think where I was going with this was evident to everyone but me until now. That story tells of the worst pain I can remember at the youngest age possible and how it tempered me and made all other pain from that point forward bearable. That is no small statement either. I have torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders broke most of my finger and three knuckles on both hands. I have pulled chunks of scalp off my head and cut through tendons in my knee and my left hand. I have broken my nose and my thumbs and my toes and chipped bone in both my elbows. I have never let out a yelp since then and that is only because I was prepared for the pain long before it ever happened. That is all physical pain but I have been tempered emotionally 10,000 times more then I have physically for similar reasons. No matter the pain now its only preparation for the future and the rewards you will get once you come out of the woods. Don't despair the metal of a man is only made harder by fire never brittle.