My hand is broken,

and it's hurts so bad,

but next to me in this hospital,

is a person with a full body cast.

How can I be hurt?

How can I complain?

when my pain just can't equate to theirs?

My nurse comes in,

and I am thankful for a person who can help heal me,

but unaware of my guilt she asks,

"How are you feeling on a scale from 1-10?"

How could I say 10?

When my pain compared to my neighbor's seems to amount to 0?

The nurse sees my wary eyes,

and says just the thing I wanted to hear,

"Pain is pain,

it doesn't matter if you're in an arm sling,

and someone's in a full body cast you still feel it-"

But before she could finish her words,

the doctor comes in,

and they go to the other patient,

but for some reason that patient refuses,

and tell them to treat me first.

The patient even got up on their injured legs,

and move their injured body to help treat me.

So now with my arm feeling a little better,

the doctor moves onto my neighbor.

My neighbor looks at my in wonder,

and with the nurse's words floating through my head I say,

"Sorry I can't help my arm is injured."

The doctor after treating my neighbor,

started listing out the things that the patient would have to live with because of their injuries.

But I still didn't care,

because my arm was injured,

and the patient couldn't force me to return their favor.

I felt no guilt for not helping,

and rightfully so,

because even though the patient had put aside their pain to help me with mines,

I felt justified in my actions,

and sadly it was because,

nobody had told me the rest of the sentence the nurse failed to say,

"But still be mindful,

a person's pain can still be greater than yours,

and your pain is not the only one in the world,

I'm just saying,

you're still allow to be in pain."

The other patient was told that before,

but sadly,

and maybe blissfully,

I wasn't.