Tears @ the Dr.'s office

Children's screams take a different toll on a soul than other occurrences. There is something so obvious in the visible anguish of a 4-year old girl who's bleeding from a gash in her head than hunger, sadness, loss or other destructive blows to a life.
When a 7-year old boy lays keeled over in pain from a tetanus injection to his rear end - made necessary by stepping on glass or a nail lying around that penetrated the bottom of his leathery, calloused foot - there are no magic words to soften the blow. No matter how much I tell him to squeeze my hand, no matter how many times I say to watch me & talk to me and not pay attention to the needle, the pain still comes and is still all too real.
I guess sometimes I try to pretend the pain isn't real. I wish sometimes I could be more like a child so people might know my pain and come rushing to help, too.