It Hurts, But It Sure Doesn't Hurt!

Suffering with Purpose

Dec 08, 2024

"It hurts, but it sure doesn't hurt!" said Ippo.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Takamura.
"I can't explain it. When I was bullied…the physical pain didn't hurt as much as my self-disappointment. The emotional pain was totally unbearable…but now, I feel like I can get back on my feet no matter how many times I get hit," replied Ippo.
Takamura thought to himself, "I wonder if he [Ippo] got a blow to the wrong place."1

Takamura and Ippo (left to right) from Hajime no Ippo anime series.

Context:

Ippo, a high school boy, used to be bullied at the start of his journey. The physical pain did not hurt as much as the emotional pain from his self-disappointment, especially when the bullies spoke ill of his mother and he did nothing, though he was about to.

After some incidents, Ippo comes across Takamura, a strong professional boxer, who introduces him to the world of boxing. This leads Ippo to decide to become a professional boxer himself.

During his first time in the ring (sparring) against a more experienced boxer, Ippo faces a tough challenge. Continuously punched, beaten up, and thrown to the ground by his opponent, it's clear to anyone watching that the odds are against him and victory seems far out of his reach. However, everytime Ippo is knocked down, he doesn't give up, and stands up again, surprising everyone present.

When Takamura asked Ippo, how he could take so much beating just as an amateur in his first match (even humorously asked if it's because of the beatings from bullies). Then Ippo, our main character, shares what he discovered:

Ippo: “It hurts, but it sure doesn't hurt!… I made a huge discovery... When I was bullied, the physical pain didn't hurt as much as my self-disappointment. The emotional pain was totally unbearable... but now, I feel like I can get back on my feet no matter how many times I get hit.”2

Reflection:

This made me reflect on ideas by great thinker Nietzsche and psychologist Viktor Frankl whose immense life suffering adds weight to their words.

Nietzsche, who spent most of his life isolated and was often bedridden suffering from a severe illness, famously said, or rather declared, “Anyone who has a why can bear any how.”3

Similarly, Viktor Frankl, a man who had the firsthand experience of the unimaginable horrors and brutality inflicted by humans on one another in the Nazi concentration camps, where he also lost his wife, parents, and many loved ones, noted, “Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning.”4

Ippo too had found a reason to bear the pain. His reason was his desire to become a boxer. When he got hurt in the fight, he knew it was worth it to suffer. He knew it was part of his journey to become a boxer.

When you voluntarily take on a challenge, whether physical or mental, and do it for the right cause, the pain becomes bearable, even rewarding; you start to find motivation to do the difficult task once you know you have a reason to do it, once you know it's worth its difficulty. You gain a sense of meaning, pride, and greatness that justifies not only the pain but also way surpasses the mere fleeting pleasure of mindlessly scrolling through reels, binge-watching, eating fast food etc.

If you're still unsure what I mean, take on a responsibility—whether for yourself or others. Do something difficult. Embrace the pain that comes with it. When you know you’re doing it for a worthy reason, the emotional fulfillment you'll experience will be incomparable.

It will hurt, but it sure won't hurt.5

Thank you for reading.

Thank you especially for investing some of your most valuable resources—your time and attention—in this piece.

I hope you found it valuable in some way. I acknowledge that I haven't figured it all out yet; therefore, feel free to reply with any thoughts you have. If you know someone who would be interested in reading this, please forward it to them.

Opti.nihilist

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