The phrase, "that which does not kill us makes us stronger", is sometimes attributed to Alexander the Great. It was actually spoken and written by Friedrich Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900), a German philosopher, and not in the English language.
I used the phrase a little differently in a recent article as "whatever doesn't kill me will make me stronger" and I thought it was a quote of Alexander the Great, but was I hesitant to say so. I'm glad I looked it up because apparently, some people searching for the phrase ended up reading it because they thought the same thing.
Diseases, Epidemics, Pandemics and Mishaps
I'm only 48-years old as I write this, but I've had my fair share of mishaps and periods of illness. When I was a teenager, I once rolled down a hill (in Hawaii) while in a fist-fight and screwed up my right shoulder. It came back to haunt me in 2006, but I got over it the second time as well as the first. I was hit by a truck while riding a bicycle prior to joining the military when I was a teenager, suffering a cracked pelvis, and got over it well enough to serve 20 years of active military service. In 2000, I suffered from adhesive encapsulitis in the left shoulder which caused me to be unemployed for several months, but I got over it.
I was sick at least once a year while I was in the military, no doubt due to the yearly influenza inoculations. Those particular vaccinations were worthless, in my opinion, because the flu virus mutates constantly. I didn't have a choice, however, because the military powers that be made it mandatory for all military service personnel. Since retiring in 1998, I've only been ill maybe four or five times and only on one occasion it was the flu. Two of my illnesses occurred after moving to the Philippines. I'm positive it only happened in the Philippines because I had no natural antibodies built up against the local virus strains. I don't know how long it will be before the local viruses no longer affect me, but someday I won't have to worry about it.
Death is Part of Life
If you think of it the right way, we are all in the process of dying the moment we're born. How long we live our lives depends on how healthy we remain and how well we avoid mishaps. It is my sincere belief that wars, famine, pestilence and everything else that can kill people exists for the sole purpose of weeding out the weak. I think it was a mistake for governments to get involved in medicine and vaccinations should have never been invented.
Like everyone else, I want to be healthy and live as long as possible. It's the human survival instinct. If a disease or anything else kills me, however, I want it to be attributed to the natural order of things — the process of life itself. I don't consider things that some people call unnecessary risks as such. Even so, I don't do stupid things, like jump out of a perfectly good airplane for the cheap thrill it provides. Thrill seekers have something mentally wrong with them that compels them to challenge death and I'm glad I'm not one of them.
I think people should spend a lot less time worrying about what may happen to them, that could cause them serious injury or death, and spend a lot more time making their lives more enjoyable. When you change your focus from death to life, your whole outlook on life changes. When you realize that you can't and won't live forever, you'll spend your life doing things which have meaning instead of wasting it away while trying to futilely protect your future.
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This article is published as: That which does not kill us makes us stronger
That is what we tell ourselves when we’ve gone through difficult times and survived. We want there to have been a purpose, a reason, why we suffered. That is what we tell others when we want to minimize their pain and their suffering. That is what abusers and bullies tell themselves when rationalizing their horrid behaviour.
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