What You Can Learn From Pain

I rarely stop to read feature stories focused on health issues, but a pullout quote in a recent article in The New York Times Magazine stopped me cold: "Her life story offers an amazing snapshot of how complicated a life can get without the guidance of pain. Pain is a gift, and she doesn't have it." Whoa. The story by Justin Heckert was about 13-year-old Ashlyn Blocker, who was diagnosed with congenital insensitivity to pain. A geneticist, Geoffrey Woods, after learning about a boy with this disorder who died after jumping off a roof to entertain his friends, said, "I [...]