340) The Bruised Ego

I didn't get a chance to post at work today, and seeing as I don't have internet set up at my new place (and no open connections from unsavvy neighbors - torture!), I'm forced to cell post tonight. At least I'm home cozied up on my bed and not in the middle of a bar typing away.

True story. About half an hour ago, I was walking home, when I caught my heel on some uneven pavement and went down in the middle of a crosswalk. It was one of those slow motion falls, where you try to catch yourself halfway, but the momentum causes you to go ahead and fall anyway.

It hurt. But not physically (yet). My face flushed and I tried, despite my increasingly throbbing knee to keep walking at a brisk pace, like it didn't happen. I didn't look back, afraid of the looks of pity and/or amusement behind me. The embarrassment, and the need to save face was so overwhelming as a first response. No matter that my left knee, which caught the brunt of it, had been scraped hard enough to draw blood (which I discovered only after I got home. It's not pretty.)

If pain is meant to alert us to harmful things to our bodies, then what does it mean when a bruised ego hurts most?

Ow.