On a different (sorry, more serious) note, I have always hated that phrase. Sure, challenges in life are necessary for growth, but a lot of what doesn’t quite kill us still causes irreparable damage and makes us weaker. I used to see a guy at the nursing home who was 50 but had been there twenty years — permanently and profoundly injured in a car accident. Didn’t kill him, but he could not even feed himself.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, famously said: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” This notion found life beyond Nietzsche’s—which is ironic, his having been rather short and miserable—and it continues to resonate within American culture.
One reason is that suffering, as Freud famously recognized, is an inevitable part of life. Thus, we have developed many ways to try to ease it—one of which is bestowing upon it transformative powers (another is by believing in an afterlife, of which Freud disapproved; still another is ✄).
Another reason is that American culture, itself born of trauma and imbued with a hopeful can-do ethos, wants to believe this idea, finding it self-affirming.
Once we have acquired a certain belief, we tend to see, remember, and report mostly instances and events that support it.
This is called confirmation bias.
Another reason we think trauma may be transformative is that we see variants of this process around us.
Bacteria that are not killed entirely by an antibiotic will mutate and become resistant to it.
People who go through the hardship of training tend to improve their performance.
But human beings are not bacteria, and good training is not a traumatic event.
This is like the other old saw, “Hard work never hurt anyone”. I’ve done a lot of heavy lifting and hard work all my life and at 84, my osteoarthritis is killing me.
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 4 years ago
Okay, you with the dueling spleen counts, go for it.
kaffekup over 4 years ago
Congratulations to those who predicted this yesterday.
pearlsbs over 4 years ago
There you go! Good followup comic from yesterday.
cdward over 4 years ago
“I think you got some ‘spleening’ to do!”
cdward over 4 years ago
On a different (sorry, more serious) note, I have always hated that phrase. Sure, challenges in life are necessary for growth, but a lot of what doesn’t quite kill us still causes irreparable damage and makes us weaker. I used to see a guy at the nursing home who was 50 but had been there twenty years — permanently and profoundly injured in a car accident. Didn’t kill him, but he could not even feed himself.
Silly Season over 4 years ago
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, famously said: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” This notion found life beyond Nietzsche’s—which is ironic, his having been rather short and miserable—and it continues to resonate within American culture.
One reason is that suffering, as Freud famously recognized, is an inevitable part of life. Thus, we have developed many ways to try to ease it—one of which is bestowing upon it transformative powers (another is by believing in an afterlife, of which Freud disapproved; still another is ✄).
Another reason is that American culture, itself born of trauma and imbued with a hopeful can-do ethos, wants to believe this idea, finding it self-affirming.
Once we have acquired a certain belief, we tend to see, remember, and report mostly instances and events that support it.
This is called confirmation bias.
Another reason we think trauma may be transformative is that we see variants of this process around us.
Bacteria that are not killed entirely by an antibiotic will mutate and become resistant to it.
People who go through the hardship of training tend to improve their performance.
But human beings are not bacteria, and good training is not a traumatic event.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/201008/what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-weaker
Michael G. over 4 years ago
Yeah. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but bullets will surely kill me.
DCBakerEsq over 4 years ago
I’ve always wanted a Kill-Bot, but all Mrs. Baker will let me have is a Roomba.
WCraft Premium Member over 4 years ago
Cowardly robot! Attacking the children first!
cuzinron47 over 4 years ago
…makes us spleenless.
jamesbaird1572 over 4 years ago
This is like the other old saw, “Hard work never hurt anyone”. I’ve done a lot of heavy lifting and hard work all my life and at 84, my osteoarthritis is killing me.
InquireWithin over 4 years ago
IF you can walk at all.