Altered by Pain
- gregorymaness
- Oct 27, 2025
- 2 min read
“There are two kinds of pain in this world. Pain that hurts. Pain that alters.” — Denzel Washington as Robert McCall in The Equalizer 2
Very true, although one might choose to differentiate between being hurt and being injured (which reminds me of the 1993 film, The Program, where James Caan’s Coach Sam Winters explains the difference to Omar Epps’ freshman football player, Darnell Jefferson). I have been hurt and I have been injured. Sprained ankles. A broken finger. Such painful injuries altered me. And for a time, they placed limits upon me and what I could do.
When it comes to emotional pain and emotional injury or trauma, I have definitely experienced some “Pain that alters.” I have been damaged. I have been temporarily broken. I have my scars and I am arguably stronger where the broken edges or ends have healed. In most cases I have grown stronger and more resilient from the emotional discomfort, pain, and injury/trauma that I have suffered. And yes, at least some of it was at least partially self-inflicted.
“What can I say, mama? I am my own crown of thorns.” — Sandra Bullock as Birdee Pruitt in Hope Floats
With that being said, I don’t know if I can say that I was ALWAYS made better by such suffering. I can still, on occasion, feel some bitterness as a result of some poor treatment that I have received in the past. There are cases where the bad memories and the hurt outweighs any lingering feelings of warmth and any good memories. There have been times when I have questioned whether I would have been better off having never met someone. I’m harder, stronger, and tougher, but I sometimes have to fight against feeling bitter, disillusioned, jaded, and pessimistic. In that battle, I have been largely successful. But not always.
In any case, I thought of the quote above from Denzel Washington’s character and it stirred some thought while I was driving my truck early this morning. Since we all experience discomfort, pain, injury, and trauma, I decided to “jot something down” and share.
“Opening Train Fight Scene | The Equalizer 2”
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