Paper or Plastic

The brain is no bigger than one's fist and yet is the summation of same one's intelligence. No other part of the body thinks or communicates to us what is happening unless it goes through the brain. The nervous construction of the body is processed in the neural receptor of the brain. If the brain doesn't know it, no other portion of the body will.

The brain is so powerful that it has the ability to sense pain even if there is nothing there to be pained, such as a phantom limb. If someone loses a leg to an accident, for example, the person can still sense pain in a leg that is no longer there. A person who is under the influence of a mind-altering psychadelic drug may "see" dripping walls and "feel" creepy spiders. Are the walls dripping and the spiders creeping? Not to us, but it is very real to the one under influence.

Can the brain be trained? Yes, such as is the case of an athlete who is conditioned to have a high tolerance for pain. Or, a musician who learns the nuance of harmony and dissonance, of notes and chords. Can the brain be damaged? Of course. When the brain is damaged, not only is the organ of thought and neural coordination affected, but the very person changes. After the brain is altered, simply or catastrophically, the person is never the same again. Who we once were is no more, and who we are now is someone different. Obviously, the spectrum of change is massive, but the change exists nevertheless.

What can happen to the brain is fascinating. What we put into the brain can be bizarre. Several years ago, a man of my acquaintance suffered a stroke in his early forties. He was a strong man with a wonderful sense of humor, many friends, a strong work ethic, and was a devoted family man. After the stroke, and with caring therapy which restored a lot of his motor skills, he never recovered his speech. He was engaging in conversation, reacting with a pleasant ability to listen, laugh and facially respond. However, his entire vocabulary was three words, always said in the same order and lilt of the local grocery store clerk, "paper or plastic?"

How are you doing today? "Paper or plastic." Did you have a good meal? "Paper or plastic." Did you watch the football game last night? "Paper or plastic." I must be going. "Paper or plastic." Thanks for the visit. "Paper or plastic." Good bye. "Paper or plastic." He never regained one more vocabulary word.

How bizarre that a person can be reduced to such limited abilities through a stroke. Who could have ever thought that the first time this man heard "paper or plastic" would later become a memory of the only three words he could recall? No one wants a stroke and strokes are not easily avoided. That's not the point. The point is that we should be good stewards of the brains we have. We need each other and what our brains bring to all that we have. Garbage in, garbage out. A good early new year's resolution would be to be more conscious of that incredible brain each of us has and to treat it with utmost respect as if our lives depended on it. Why? Because they do.