Thought of the Day 03.12.10

Being home sick one day this week made me realize something: I love being sick!
Oh, don’t get me wrong. Of course I hate both the experience of illness and also the truth about a world rendered defective by sin that we have such a thing as illness. But, taking these for granted, there are still a lot of great things about being sick, at least for me.

For one, staying home from a job I love to do reminds me how wonderful it is to have such a job and that it’s the sort of American job which allows me to take days off for being sick, a luxury most humans throughout history wouldn’t comprehend. For another thing, in lounging around doing nothing all day because I feel so bad, I am reminded of what a privilege it is to be productive most of the time. Feeling useless is psychologically exhausting.

Obviously, other perks included having a home I could relax in, the appreciation of proper bodily function once it returned, and even things like ibuprofen and chicken noodle soup. But I think one of the neatest benefits of being sick is the discovery that I am unnecessary. The world turns, someone else does my job, and so many of the things I think depend uniquely upon me doing them instead reveal this to be a self-glorifying delusion.

It’s good to feel important, but it’s also good to not feel too important.