“Would you like some tea?”
“I would. Thank you.”
“Careful. It’s hot.”
“I usually prefer iced tea.”
“Mmm. I don’t have any.”
“Maybe I can put ice in this tea.”
“But that’s what I’m saying—I don’t have any cubes.”
“Sorry.”
He couldn't drink this tea. It was hot. Hot means scorching of the tongue. As a child, he had been diagnosed with sipa, a rare medical condition that didn't allow him to feel pain. This didn't bother him. In fact, most things didn't as he didnt feel them. He could feel touch, he could feel emotion pain, but physically he couldn't comprehend what this sensation of pain was like. What bothered him was the awkward situations he was put in on a daily basis. In example, is it easier to seem rude to a job interviewer or to share an unfathomable medical condition with them in the first five minutes? Rejecting tea wasn't a considerably bad situation. Try turning down invites for paintball gunning as a kid or being unable to try out for any sport. Or going to the beach, because sand would get into his eye and scratch his cornea without him noticing. Pain may seem negative to most, but many lack appreciation for it and view it as a means of survival.

As a child, he had taken some pride in his disease. He pretended to be superman, and would jump off the swing higher than any of the other children could. When playing "mercy" he would always win. The other kids took awe when he was able to perfect a belly flop at the local pool, without crying afterwards. He had always viewed himself as tough and accepted, rather than a kid with a genetic disease who would suffer from many dillemnas growing up. It wasn't until the end of middle school, when the ability to withstand pain lost its shock value to kids on the playground, that he began to question. What was this thing they called hurt? What was it about this sensation that brought people to tears and made them scream in agony?

pain- physical suffering or distress, as due to injury, illness, etc.

He couldn't help but wonder if one day he would have cancer consume his body and not know it. Would he be on the floor dead from a heartattack without feeling the slightest symptom first? Life could be taken from him before he'd have any inkling of what was about to happen. It's not that he had a fear of the unknown like many anxious people do. It was one hundred percent reasonable, and maybe even probable, that the fears he posessed would come to be true. That left him with two options. Either he could live his life in fear, or he could use his disease to his advantage, like everyone else saw it. Knowing optimism usually wins, he chose the later of the two.