fine motor skills

Our driveway in all its purple glory

My right arm has been in a sling for several days, after minor surgery on tuesday. So there has been  no driving, no writing, no sweeping the floor for me. A lot of reading, a lot of DVDs. Even tv, which I almost never watch.

The post-op television was all coverage of the terrible Christchurch earthquake, which was happening just as I was drifting away under general anaesthetic. 

I was riveted by the earthquake. Is it voyeurism on my part? Or wanting to feel connected and empathetic? Wanting to be reminded of the mighty forces of Nature, of what is real, what our planet really is?  Or just that it’s so touching seeing people help and support eachother? Crises wake everyone up and bring out a deeper part of us. Why is it that when the drama passes we invariably slip back into our more superficial selves?

(I remember when my mother was dying & I was caring for her I felt extraordinarily calm and focussed and loving. Then after she went, I could feel myself, as the weeks passed, turning back into my usual grumpy, fusspot  self. )

Obviously lots of others felt the same compulsion to see the earthquake, because there was virtually nothing else on tv, with commentators wringing every last flimsy angle out of the story. 

TELEVISION: Even while I am being shown the most dramatic footage of bodies pulled from collapsed buildings,  and of weeping traumatised survivors, there is a ribbon running past at the bottom of the screen telling me about what's happening in Libya, about who won the cricket, and what top temperatures are expected in the capital cities. It seems almost... disrespectful, that we can’t just give the dead, and the survivors our full attention for even a minute.

More and more information crammed into every nook and cranny of our time and space. A worrying trend in my opinion. Personally I already have way more thoughts in my head than I want, more input than I can possibly process. 

Actually, there is less mental clutter than usual right now -  a rather pleasant after-effect of the anaesthetic ( my first ever) I’m still a bit spaced out. Lucky I don’t have to operate heavy machinery.

In the last few days I’ve  developed a lot of gratitude for my right hand and all its fabulous fine motor skills, of which I have been temporarily deprived.  It’s an interesting challenge, trying to wash dishes, clean teeth, butter toast with the non-dominant hand. Probably good for   creating new neuro-pathways. Today the sling is off and I’m happy to be back at the keyboard.