Character Change by Pain

I find my self sitting and think that this essay on character is going to be quite a pain, but it must be completed no matter its bane. Thus I come upon the realization of my topic; pain itself, both physiological and psychological, is my topic. Of all the many experiences in life pain is prevalent throughout. Pain has been a guiding factor for the molding of my character throughout my life: increasing my empathy, teaching me tolerance and strengthening my resolve.

I have always had a problem with sympathy, whether for another person or simply an animal, I could never find myself caring for others, to any great extent. I was the most important thing in my world. That was until the death of my Grandmother who had lived and taken care of me for the majority of my life, along with my parents, was diagnosed with cancer of the lungs. She passed away mid-November after four months of deterioration. The pain I felt for her loss was more then this self-adoring person could understand. I hated that she made me feel this way. To say I've become some all compassionate saint would be a blatant lie, but I have become more caring and understanding towards the ones I would profess to love. An expansion of my capacity for care of others was a result of the passing of my grandmother.

But the psychological pain of lose isn't the only mental pain I've been force through. There also exists a vile beast, dubbed Demon, which tortures my very existence in the form a thirteen year old girl, my cousin. It has often been my duty, over the years, to look after her while parents did other more "important things." She is a creation or pure annoyance and brain destroying evil. Suffice it say not throwing her off the balcony was often quite a large problem when she was around.

Not all lessons in pain are psychological; often the lessons come in the form of physical agony. It was a hot summer, an unbearably hot summer, and I had decided to work for a family company to makes some money for next year. The company's main service was generator placement and repair. My pain begins on a job site mid summer, just as it getting hottest, I fall victim to a fiendish bet. The bet is that I can't dig a twenty foot trench five feet deep in three days. Foolishly I take the bet. The first day, a Wednesday I believe, I get through with minor aches and pains, a little burnt at worst. The next day rolls along and, after a long day of blister forming, back breaking work, I manage to get about seventy percent