Pain

 I remember, as a kid, when I really was confronted with pain.  I had been playing,  in the park across the street from my home, and I stepped on a bee.  That bee took revenge on me and I ran home screaming to Mother.  She applied a home remedy, a salve made with baking soda, over the wound and I quickly calmed down.

Another encounter I had with the insect world, was an attack from an angered wasp, while helping paint our house.  Apparently I disturbed the wasp's nest and that precipitated an attack.  That wasp's sting was really a few degrees more intense than the bee sting I got in the park.  This time I had to go into the house, lie down and rest.  Eventually a fever ensued, but in a few hours I was ready to continue with my job, albeit much more cautious about getting too close to a wasp's nest.

Physical pain from a bee or wasp sting is immediate and evident.  But psychological pain can match the intensity of a bee sting over longer periods of time.  A loss of a loved one, an extended illness and personal abuse can have a lingering exposure to pain.

"The pain of the little finger is felt by the whole body."     Filipino proverb