Monday, November 24, 2008

The Transference of Opposibility

I'm in St. Louis. One of my regular fall tasks at my parents house is to duct tape a big garbage bag over the air conditioner in the kitchen so it doesn't let the winter air blow in. I've done this for the past four years without consequence.

This year, I decided to sign my work in duct tape strips on top of the air conditioner. Just trust me - if you saw the set up, this would make sense. But I learned that vanity comes at a price. In fact, I paid in blood. Trying to cut thin strips of duct tape to spell out "AH", I got the scissors stuck on the tape and when I unstuck them, I also sliced open my left thumb.

I finished my signature and then headed inside, leaving a bloody trail. Ok, there wasn't enough blood yet to leave a trail, but there could have been if the wound was bigger or if I'd had a few more initials to put down in tape on the garbage bag.

There are no easy decisions at my parents house. Bandaid or steri-strip? Anti-bacterial goop or none? Emergency Room or Urgent Care? I decided right away against the ER and also decided that if the bleeding didn't stop in 10 minutes, that I would consider Urgent Care. I think with enough pressure on a wound, you can just assume that you've scared the blood away.

And we went with anti-bacterial goop, gauze and tape.

So for the next few hours, I couldn't really use my thumb. Which made eating dinner hard. It was then that I was wondering why only our thumbs are opposible and not our other fingers as well. I can't really figure out what that would look like, but it would certainly make eating easier.

I know that there are people all over the world who for many reasons have no thumbs, or even hands for that matter and they are not malnourished. So I get that it's possible to eat without the use of one thumb. But wouldn't it be interesting if our bodies compensated by transferring the opposition to another finger when our thumbs aren't able to perform their regular duties?

I'm just sayin'....

3 comments:

Paula Tucker said...

As a practical matter, doctors often transplant toes onto hands that are missing a thumb.

Thought you'd enjoy that little factoid.

I am now returning to my regularly scheduled vacation.
P

Unknown said...

When you were younger, you were not that egotistical. Really, initials on a trash bag ??? !!!

Yes, I remember when you were younger ....

Wilmington, DE (Home of the Vice President Elect)

Andrea said...

I've grown vain, what can I say?!

And Uncle Jake, where is the VP-elect these days? He's been suspiciously out of the picture!