Pain and being Human

"Chili (sic) pungency is not technically a taste; it is the sensation of burning, mediated by the same mechanism that would let you know that someone had set your tongue on fire."

I apologise for starting this posting with a piece of English spelling pedantry, but I wish to make it clear that this is not my way of spelling Chilli. No, it belongs to this article.

There are people in this world that seem to like pain. I don't mean the ones that attract it. They can often suffer, and it's inexplicable, but somehow there are those for whom pain is like a heat-seeking missile. One can only pray for them, and try to help them through it. But I mean those that re-create pain.

Maybe some of them are actually - in a strange kind of way - happier with pain. They take comfort in failure because that confirms them in who they are. Maybe the pain of failed relationships is to them, as the pain of a chilli is to a chilli-lover. It drags them back to other painful experiences, other painful relationships - other places where they feel they now know where they are, because they have failed again. To a strange kind of safety in their pain.

Just a metaphysical thought. Now, if you'll excuse me. Hnaef's sweeping the front hall and he's making an awful mess. I must seek out the old Slazenger from the boot of the Porsche Cayenne. And it's a bit dented after falling off that cliff...