Philosophy Smack-Down

I’m not being obsessive,

but it was, by my rough estimate,

the two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-fifth time

That someone tried to console me, assuring,

                                    “That which doesn’t kill you

                                    will make you stronger!”

That- to use a philosophically rough,

and nitrogen-rich technical term- is bullshit!

You know that man that said it?

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche…

And you know what else?

he’s dead. And what killed him,

took its damn time. He died, raving,

ravaged, bankrupt, with syphilis,

which, at no time, made him stronger.

Furthermore, when he died? I bet

he had some explaining to do

regarding another of his famous quotes:

                                    “God is dead”

which he said to the one Supreme Being least likely

to see it as clever metaphor or precocious outburst.

I like to think of Nietzsche, standing at the Gates of Heaven ,

and the first words he hears after, “Yeah… don’t unpack, Fred…”

are “Hey Nietszche? Who Da God? WHO DA GOD NOW, BITCH?”

Given this historical context,

maybe that which doesn’t kill me…simply missed?

Maybe it was on a mission of reconnaissance,

testing weak spots, reporting back to a main force,

waiting for night…

Or, maybe that which doesn’t kill me,

knows all it has to do is wound me,

and let blood-loss and exhaustion

do the work for it… and then it can make

a trophy out of my skull.

Or maybe that which doesn’t kill me is a sadist.

And thinks, “Why stop after just one beating?”

until I start to like it. So maybe that which doesn’t kill me

makes me a prime candidate for spiritual Stockholm Syndrome?

There is a good chance that which does kill me

is vast… unknowable… that it doesn’t intend to kill me

any more than I count amoeba casualties

while stomping through rain puddles…

…that’s the one that really scares me.

Maybe all I have is that that which didn’t kill me… was yesterday;

and that which isn’t killing me…is today;

and that which won’t kill me tomorrow

is a giant Hello Kitty, and no,

I don’t want to talk about it.

Perhaps that which doesn’t kill me—

through accident, bad aim, circumstances,

or dumb luck simply doesn’t kill me.

And the “only makes me stronger” part?

That… is all up to me.