When I was 17 years old I was in a program in high school to expose us to careers in the health care field. One day as I was following the nurse on her rounds, we entered the infant ward to observe a circumcision when they brought in a little newborn baby boy; he was all wrapped up and screaming and crying for mommy. I could not help but to stare at this tiny newborn and how hysterical he was. Here is this tiny creature barely new to the world and all he wants is to be held by his mother. The doctor took the baby with the nurses assisting and exposed his penis from beneath the blanket. The medical professionals then began to stroke the shaft in order that it be made erect for the procedure to take place. The baby began to become calmer and his crying eased a little as the doctor then placed a metal rod rod on the tip in order that the foreskin be pull up around it. Then, with a quick stroke of the razor, cut it off. The crying baby immediately stopped screaming and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head as the pain of it caused him to nearly pass out. It was horrendous to see that done to a baby.
Later that night I was speaking with my grandmother over the telephone and after relaying the story I ended with, "thank God I was never circumcised," to which she was surprised and said of course I was. After hearing that, I went into a state of shock and spent a good hour in the bathroom sobbing uncontrollably while staring at the scar tissue. Up until then I thought that is what a penis looked like; mine looked like my father's and brothers'. How would I know what an uncircumcised one looked like when I had never known mine looked different from what I was born with.
I thought to myself, "thank god I don't remember that happening." After reading about how much more hygienic it was than an uncircumcised one and hey, Jesus was circumcised, it became a source of pride and how could anyone not get that tidy operation; better as a baby when he won't remember it than as an adult. That memory quickly faded as I began to enter the world after high school.
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