| Here's the definition of scar according to | | | | them obtained in adulthood are usually not so |
| wikepedia.com: | | | | funny - or welcome. Perhaps the most disfiguring |
| A scar results from the biologic process of wound | | | | scars of all are the ones that can't be seen; the |
| repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. | | | | emotional wounds we carry inside. Often, those |
| Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing | | | | scars are caused by loss, bigotry, hatred, abuse, |
| process. With the exception of very minor lesions, | | | | or failure. And we all have 'em, some people just |
| every wound results in some form of scarring. | | | | hide their blemishes and pretend their life is |
| Scars obtained in childhood are, well, usually kinda | | | | unmarred. Why? Unless you've lived your life in a |
| funny. When someone asks how I got the three | | | | bubble and wearing a Kevlar vest, we're all going |
| deep gashes on my right calf, I usually chuckle, | | | | to get hurt. Physically, emotionally, socially, |
| shake my head and say, "I was a really, REALLY | | | | whatever, being hurt and recovering is part of life. |
| dumb kid..." Then, I tell a tale where the three | | | | It all comes down to how we view our scars. A |
| main characters are a four-wheeler, a barbed wire | | | | fresh wound is not a scar. The very nature of a |
| fence and a certain 15-year-old who bears a | | | | scar means, something has happened - and |
| striking resemblance to yours truly. | | | | healed. Something terrible was survived. If we can |
| When I was standing in the fence line with a | | | | look at ourselves and embrace all we have been |
| bloody leg that looked like it'd just gone through a | | | | through to become who we are - we might begin |
| meat processor, do you think I was laughing? | | | | to view scars as: lessons learned, places been... |
| Nope! And when the doc shoved a syringe full of | | | | victories won. |
| anti-tetanus medication into my arm, did I have a | | | | For years, I hated, HATED the five-inch mark |
| big grin plastered on my mug? Again, no. So, why | | | | across my chin that showed up the same night I |
| was I beaming a week later when showing off | | | | lost my sight. Now? I kinda like it. How can I like |
| my bandages to my classmates? Time. As time | | | | something that doesn't fit with the American ideal |
| passed the physical pain eased and I had proof of | | | | of beauty? Again, it's all in how we think of it. |
| just how tough a kid I was. And now? Now I look | | | | If we twist our thinking, we see these |
| at those scars with fondness. They remind me of | | | | "imperfections" not as failures, but as signs of |
| my throw-caution-to-the-wind childhood, of the | | | | being tried, tested and proven. With the proper |
| fact I lived through a horrifying, if rather stupid | | | | attitude and time to adjust, we can eventually |
| accident, and now have a fun story to tell! | | | | accept and ultimately love the trials that put those |
| Physical injuries and the scars that accompany | | | | physical blemishes on our bodies and souls. |