Monday, August 27, 2007

Of heroes, repression, and wisdom (tooth)

Anyone who has had a toothache can relate to my pain. For the past few weeks, I've been having this unbelievably painful toothache which starts at my lower left molars and spreads to my other teeth. (Then it spreads to my cheeks and gives me a splitting headache.)

It throbs and tingles and it feels like all of my teeth will come off. Somewhere inside, unreachable and intense, feels like a demon striking my nerves with a pitchfork.
Or a demon whipping a monster, which moans and groans and pounds on the walls of my tooth in its struggle to break free.
Yes, it makes me believe in hell.

I had my teeth x-rayed and it turns out, I have a third molar wanting to erupt. Yes, a "wisdom tooth". So, it's true. Pain is the beginning of wisdom -- tooth.
Worse, the tooth can't come out because there is no more room in my jaw! It's pushing my other teeth and the pressure is causing all the pain.

It's curious that I'm not 'built' for something that is already 'naturally' existing in my body.
(I guess I'm not meant to be 'wise', huh? :-) )
I mean, come on, it's already there, eager to pop it's little white crown and share in the chewing, but it doesn't have any space to grow?
Talk about repression!

This just shows that where repression exists, there's bound to be oppression.
(Let's put in 'depression' too, to make it rhyme some more. hehe)

Today is National Heroes Day. And let us remember what our martyrs fought for -- Freedom.
Freedom from tyranny. Freedom from repression.
For the freedom of speech and expression.
To be, to do, to say what you want.
And this freedom of speech goes with a lot of rights, especially the right to assemble, and the right to information.

Unfortunately, recent events, and actions from our Government have dulled these rights. For example, the Chief issued several EOs (EO 608 for one) that may render us gagged and blind-folded.

Of course, some say ignorance is bliss. It's better to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
It would be good to just shut up and be happy!
Yes, that may work, but only for a while.
Somehow, we're bound to grow a wisdom tooth and it's going to cause a lot of pain until it is let out.

So let's continue to open our eyes.

Look around. The struggle is far from over.

Listen carefully. History is whispering: Do not forget. Do not give up.

Speak up. Let us fight for our rights and the rights of others who can't fight for themselves.

It may be cliche, but we owe it to those who died in the night so we may see the break of dawn.

As for me, I am wide awake, listening to the dawn breaking, and waiting for my 'oppression' to be over. (Can anyone pls recommend the best pain-killer?)

I'm not the happiest person right now, nor the bravest (nor the wisest!), but at least I found my voice with this repression of my wisdom -- tooth. :-)

----
Note: The photo above is the the xray of my impacted wisdom tooth.
Research tells me that third molars usually erupt when a person is 18-25 years old.
Third molars are no longer needed and due to evolution, we now have generally smaller jaws, which makes third molars a problem.
For more information on wisdom teeth and wisdom teeth removal pls see these links:
Wisdom Teeth... What are Third Molars...
Why Do We have Wisdom Teeth... The Unresolved Problem of the Third Molar


2 comments:

a*musing said...

Ouch! I know how painful that is... I had mine extracted a few weeks ago and I had to be in painkillers for a week. But I'm back to my "happy eating" self nowadays :>

paderewski said...

hi girl, my master of cool. was looking for a tagboard of some sort but i found none so im leaving my message here :-D missed you na day! im thrilled for you and admantes, 5 years together and all that jazz. exciting! was just dropping by to check on you and despite studying for law and finally attaining wisdom (teeth), you look and "read" the same to me, the one i knew in college, only better :-D see you around!