Pain, according to the American Medical Association, is “an unpleasant sensation related to tissue damage.” That language is a little too restrained for the situations I have in mind, but it is scientifically correct. Pain originates in the body. The hurt comes from swollen joints, fluid-filled lungs, damaged nerves, invading tumors. More often than not, you can lay your hands on pain. You can find the place that hurts and press it, eliciting a howl or at least a grunt from the person it belongs to. Pain happens in the flesh. Suffering, on the other hand, happens in the mind. The mind decides
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