What Would a Practicing Pragmatist Do?

My dictionary says “A pragmatist is someone who is pragmatic, that is to say, someone who is practical and focused on reaching a goal.”

I like that definition, but what does it mean in real life?

Take my recent medical problem.  I woke up one morning with the fingers on both of my hands tingling. My fingers had also lost sensitivity.  My immediate goal was to get my hands back to normal.  After several visits to a neurologist, an MRI, and x-rays, I was diagnosed with cervical stenosis. The bones in my spinal column were pressing against the nerves in my neck.

My next goal was to find the cure.  Three doctors agreed that the only solution was a five-hour neck surgery.  Okay.  I interviewed two surgeons, and picked one who had an immediate opening on his schedule due to a cancellation.  He also seemed to be the better surgeon.  Surgery was scheduled for a few days later, at the end of March.

The most obvious risks were death, or the accidental cutting of a nerve.  I didn’t spend a moment worrying about those possibilities because there was no action I could take other than refusing to have the surgery.  But I didn’t want to endure this condition for the rest of my years, so surgery was the only option.

Fortunately, I did not experience either of those outcomes. So now my goal is to return to my normal life as soon as I can.

I believe it was Proust who wrote, “We listen to pleasure.  We obey pain.”  So as much as I would like to act as if nothing has happened, I still have significant pain in my neck, and typing is difficult.  I’m told that full recovery may take between six and twelve months.

I’m not going to worry about that either.  It is what it is.  I’m doing as much as I reasonably can, which includes postponing those activities that cause me too much pain.  As Herman Hesse wrote in Siddhartha, “I can think.  I can wait.  I can fast.”  I’m doing all three.  Well, not fasting, but I have lost six pounds.  My surgeon says that the body uses a lot of energy when recovering from bone surgery.

Enough about that.  My next goal is to return to different blog topics and focus on something other than this temporary condition.

Again, many thanks for your support and your reminders that this, too, will pass.

Love,

Alan