Article: All thumbs: 24 hours without index finger is lesson in connectedness

When I slip in a boulder field while turkey hunting and smash my right index finger with the butt of a shotgun, my first reaction is relief that the digit isn't broken.

My second is a realization that the bloody tip with the dislodged nail is my trigger finger.

Within hours, however, the injury to such a small part of my body begins to manifest itself as a much more sweeping disruption.

I never thought that losing use of one little body part could be so life altering.

I find otherwise. I learn with surprise and, eventually, admiration, that the human body is a finely tuned machine, its many elements intertwined.

Each has a role and the loss of even one part can affect the whole, throw it out ...

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