Stupid Sayings

That which does not kill me makes me stronger.

This one's annoyed me for a long time. It's demonstrably untrue at every level.

Physically? If I cut off your arms and legs, by what measure are you stronger physically?

Mentally? Victims of mental torture techniques are not known for their stability.

Spiritually? Even here, if you take as the measure of spiritual strength as an ability to maintain an honest, forthright position, spirtiual "damage" in the form of (say) corruption only makes further corruption easier.

Now, what various forms of abuse can reveal--reveal not create--is an awareness of exactly what one can endure. In these comfortable times, we're not often pushed to anything close to our limits.

But the actual ability was always there. (We could argue the extent to which awareness equals ability but that's for another time.)