A Spider Bit My Arse

Yes, it’s true. A spider bit my bum. I didn’t feel a thing. I noticed a tender, red bump that I thought was a zit on Tuesday. On Wednesday, this red bump had progressed to a larger bump with a black center.

It didn’t get me down. I went to work Tuesday for a few hours at my part time summer job, then went to my real job for a few more. After working at my part time job Wednesday, I finally decided to go to the doctor when my butt started to throb. She confirmed that it was a brown recluse bite, and that I shouldn’t be sitting although sitting isn’t going to make anything worse. Imagine living a life in which you can’t pull up a chair without having a sharp pain shoot through your bum. Not cool. She also advised rest, ice packs, and lots of water, and that there wasn’t much we can do at this point other than watch, drink, and wait. I made an appointment for reinspection of my bitten butt on Friday, but until then there’s not much I can do about it other than watch and wait.

So here I sit on my couch, in pain, blogging for some progress, when I realize that this is what progress is all about. When the world tells you to sit down and shut up, you stand and scream. Instead of loathing in self pity, we have to fix the situation we are in and take advantage of the resources we do have. There’s a certain point when conventional strategy just doesn’t work, and one must defy the instruction manual to improve. I’m not advocating the idea of not listening to the doctor, but do I have to listen to everyone who says I am never going to change anything, and that my actions will never make a difference? I think not. I can watch my butt all day, waiting for the black circle to do something, or I can focus on what I can do for the time being and hope for the best. I may not be able to change foreign policy, but I can help an immigrant do their taxes. I may not have a million dollars, but I have a free public library, the internet, and an uncontrollable imagination. Each small step towards a big end goal is progress, and we can’t get there without action. You won’t find me watching my spider bite all day and waiting for it to do a trick or something. I’ll be changing the world, stopping only for an occasional ice pack change.

Want to know what happened next? Check out the afterbite:
http://www.progressiveu.org/004638-afterbite