I can FEEL it.

[Jasper]

Hold up your left hand, palm facing you.  Look at your pinky.  Now squeeze it, feel the bones in there.  A bit too much pressure and they bend a little.  Especially that slightly longer one near the knuckle.  The feeling of frailty is ever-present.  Do you ever feel like a part of you is too brittle to keep?  Like a part of you is liable to break at any moment, and the only way to avoid inevitable crippling agony is to get rid of it for good?

I wish I could get a new pinky.

[Freeky]

I feel that way about my teeth.

[Jasper]

It's supposed to be a metaphor, actually.

[Jasper]

Which, looking back, I think the way I wrote it makes that fact a bit too sneaky.  I'd probably miss it myself if I didn't write it.

Will fix.

[Freeky]

It's supposed to be a metaphor, actually.

Oops. Sorry.

[NotPublished]

No I don't feel that way, I don't know whether to call myself careful or careless. I keep my joints well lubricated - but its often only because I work them hard

[Jasper]

No I don't feel that way, I don't know whether to call myself careful or careless. I keep my joints well lubricated - but its often only because I work them hard

Shit, is that a metaphor too? 

[Dr. Paes]

You've got to guard those parts carefully, Sig... because if anyone ever wanted to hurt you, that's where they would strike.
Imagine someone grabbing your pinky by that brittle, longest bone. They'd only have to grip it by two fingers and they'd have the power to decide whether it breaks or not. You've got to keep your hands in your pockets, because people... they look for things like that. Once your hands are in your pockets, though... you realise you've got another vulnerable point. You're covered in them. Weaknesses. They seem like structural flaws in your body. Obvious targets.

But you can't get rid of them all or you'll fall apart.

[Storebrand]

I don't have a good response to this but I do relate to it.  It seems like every morning when I stretch out and look at myself in the mirror I identify some new brittle bit in need of replacement.

[Jasper]

But like the terrorism expert said, anything that can hurt you can help you, or words to that effect.  Weaknesses can be strengths if you know how to use them.  

[NotPublished]

No I don't feel that way, I don't know whether to call myself careful or careless. I keep my joints well lubricated - but its often only because I work them hard

Shit, is that a metaphor too? 

[E.O.T.]

YOU OUGHT

          to wear bigger mittens

[the last yatto]

...in the air tonight?

[Dr. Paes]

But like the terrorism expert said, anything that can hurt you can help you, or words to that effect.  Weaknesses can be strengths if you know how to use them. 

How do you use them, Sig?
If I knew this, I'd be set. I'd be indestructible... but I don't know how to use my weaknesses as strengths.
The best I can do is identify them and remain aware of them, lessening their power as weaknesses.
But turn them right around? You're talking crazy.

YOU OUGHT

          to wear bigger mittens

This is what I do. Cover up those weak parts so they can't be hit and so they can't be seen. The problem is, this doesn't make them any stronger. Your pinky gets even more brittle, in fact, hiding in those mittens. It would be ruinous if the mittens ever failed.
How can you even tell us you have a frail pinky, Sig?
Making everyone aware that it's there... I can't even allude to mine without hiding the fact behind layers upon layers of metaphor.
I'm not telling anyone where to hit to take me down.

[Jasper]

1) 

2)  Well, one of my many weaknesses is lack of discipline.  I know why I am that way, and I know how much better off I would be with stronger discipline.  However, I also know that being this way, I'm a lot more flexible about certain things, and lacking strict personal guidelines is intellectually liberating. 

Cf: Gnarls Barkley:  "was knowing your weakness what made you strong?"

A better example could be lack of money.  That's more easy to use as a strength.  For instance, I recently used my broke assedness to get some free treatment at a sliding scale clinic.  Treatment that would cost more than I could afford if I had a part time job at some shitty place.  This same broke-assedness is partially why I have a Pell Grant.

Pathetic?  Yes, probably.  But it proves my point at least.