It's been a full three weeks since my surgery. Three weeks ago (plus a few days), I had to go in to get my ingrown toenails surgically treated. They removed part of the left nail and all of the right. If this experience has shown me one thing, it's that I'm not cut out for a career in the field of medicine. I nearly went to pieces hours later when I removed the gauze, and put regular adhesive bandages on my toes to cover them up (as per doctor's orders). There was some mild pain for a while, but nothing that over-the-counter pain relievers couldn't take care of. Another week or so, and I may even ditch the adhesives - I have already gone bandage-less on the left.
So how did it happen? In a word, slowly. In a few more words, over several years. I trim my nails, doing a mediocre (at best) job of it, and the nails grew out wrong, digging and cutting into my flesh. This growth was surprisingly easy to ignore - there was rarely any pain, and most of the time I couldn't even see the nails because I had socks on (I hate walking barefoot on most surfaces, and grow uncomfortable and distracted when my feet are cold; a pair of socks helps in both respects). Out of sight, out of mind, the problem got worse and worse.
Changes are actually quite easy to ignore, as long as they are small enough. But keep making small changes over a long period of time, and you end up with an end product significantly different than what was started off with. It's also easy to get used to something. Some aspect of our environment changes, and it is highly noticeable at first. But if it stays that way, we get used to it, and might not even notice it after some time. This is helped by the fact that it is often easier to get used to something than it is to fix it.
This is especially true in the political realm, wherein most people spend their time arguing how to fix something, and whether or not it even needs fixing in the first place!
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