It is interesting to note that there are scientists out there that try to measure the relative pain from various stings that we humans sometimes encounter. There’s even a famous Sting Pain Index called the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. It’s one of the strangest projects in entomology (i.e., the scientific study of insects). Created by an entomologist named Justin Schmidt (1947-2023), Schmidt was willing to suffer for the sake of science. He worked at the Southwest Biological Institute in Arizona where he studied harvester ants and other stinging insects. Of course, in handling such insects, Schmidt was stung many times. He came to realize that there wasn’t a standardized way to compare the pain caused by different stings, so he created a pain scale, modeled somewhat like the Scoville Scale for chili peppers.

The Schmidt Scale was first published in 1983 and went through several iterations, with the result being a scale from 1 to 4 with 1 being mild pain and 4 being mind-blowing in terms of its level of pain.

In the Level 1 category we would find things like a string from a typical honey bee. A bite from a common ant would be here as well.

At Level 2 we would find the sting of a Yellowjacket, a Paper Wasp, and a Hornet – a burning, stabbing pain that might last for up to 15 minutes.

In the Level 3 category we would find the Warrior Wasp, the sting of which can last for over 2 hours and has been described as burning, or aggressive, pain. Also in this category would be the Red Harvest Ant, the pain which has been described as intense, sharp pain with lingering soreness.

Now for Level 4: A type of wasp known as the Tarantula Hawk falls in this category. Its sting has been described as “Blinding, electric pain.” The only good thing about a sting from a Tarantula Hawk is that the pain only lasts a few minutes.

But there is another lovely little insect that also falls in this category which is far, far worse than the sting of the Tarantula Hawk: the Bullet Ant! Although they bite, it’s not their bite that causes the biggest problem. It’s their sting. They are at the very top of the Schmidt Pain Scale! People who have been on the receiving end of a sting from the Bullet Ant have described it as “waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain,” or “like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heal,” or “Pure, intense, unrelenting pain.” The pain can last upwards of 24 hours, often with lingering soreness beyond that point. The Bullet Ant is aptly named, for a sting from this insect feels like you’ve received a gunshot wound.

Back in Issue 334, I wrote a piece called “Dangerous Spiders” where I spoke of the Sydney Funnel Web Spider as the most venomous on earth. I wondered how the bite of this most lethal of spiders compared, in terms of pain (not lethality), to the sting of a Bullet Ant. Well, although the Sydney Funnel Web Spider has large, powerful fangs that can pierce a fingernail or even penetrate a shoe, and the pain from its bite alone has been described as a “sharp, puncturing, searing pain similar to a deep hypodermic injection,” there’s really no comparison: The pain inflicted by a sting from the Bullet Ant is far more atrocious! (Now remember, while a bite from the Sydney Funnel Web Spider is painful, the real horror from such a bite is not the bite itself, per se, but from the neurotoxins injected into the victim of the bite, which can be lethal. The sting from a Bullet Ant is horrifically painful, but you won’t likely die from such a sting.)

With all of that being said, I think it is fruitful to make an analogy from the Schmidt Pain Scale and the very real pain that people experience in their lives. I’m not talking here about physical pain, though that could be a topic in its own right. I’m talking about non-physical pain.

As a college professor, I recently dropped a number of students on Labor Day. These students failed to turn in their work that first week, so they automatically get dropped. Some of them intended to turn in their work but failed to do so for one reason or another. They didn’t want to be dropped, yet they were. They are experiencing pain right now (until I fill out the paperwork to add them back into the class.) But their pain isn’t necessarily horrific.

I suspect at the top of the scale would be the pain a parent feels at the loss of a child, either to disease, or a sudden accident, or from being shot to death by gang members. I cannot even fathom such pain, as I’ve never experienced it. But that pain, I suspect, is at the very top of the scale. By contrast, getting a speeding ticket and having to fork out money for Traffic School is painful, but probably towards the bottom of the pain scale.

Being lied to by someone close to you, someone you trust, or otherwise experiencing a big betrayal by that person, is deeply jarring, deeply painful. And sometimes you can’t just shut the door on that relationship and walk away easily. Sometimes the circumstances are of a complexity that you are sort of stuck there for a period of time, not really knowing how to navigate that terrain. I myself have just recently been stung by that kind of pain, and I can attest that the mixture of anger and shock, of grief and heartbreak, is very real and very painful.  Fortunately, there are times that such pain can be remedied in short order when one takes the time to iron out any misunderstandings.

Other forms of pain, such as losing a job due to staff reduction is very painful and disheartening. The fear of running out of money and not being able to pay your bills, let alone enjoying your former lifestyle, is a heavy burden to bear. The unknown and uncertainty of when and how you will land your next job and start receiving an income is very taxing and is the stuff of great anxiety. Likewise, having a friend you treasure all of a sudden decide to terminate the friendship, perhaps with no explanation, is a very painful ordeal. Similarly, the pain of receiving a medical diagnosis that points to a life-threatening disease is deeply painful, as well as frightening.

I don’t imagine there is an exception to experiencing pain. The opportunities for pain are legion. They are everywhere. And we all get to experience pain to some degree, and probably on many occasions. But we can choose to be resilient. We can do our best to bounce back. We can recognize that we have earned no special exemption from pain and that everyone will experience it. What matters is what we tell ourselves when we are in such pain.

We are not alone. However bad our current levels of pain may be, the strong likelihood is others are suffering even more. Perhaps we can nullify the pain by trying to counteract its effects by reflecting on the many blessings we have been given or may yet be given in the future. Our next big blessing, an act of good fortune, could be right around the corner.

So don’t give up.