Scars

~ Akash

Have you had a scar - something that you wished you could just cut off?

Some ugly reminder of a mistake. A constant tug at your heart, reiterating everything you lost because you were inadequate.

Scars are echoes of the past, relics of the simple things that existed once.

But are they simple enough?

Aren’t humans complex? Perhaps, too complex for the ones around us.

Scars are just as complex. Just as intriguing. Just as convoluted.

Not all scars are visible though. Some are just there, hidden in plain sight-almost as if they belong. They are somehow uglier. No one ever sees them, but their effects are clear.

Humans are social beings; a scarred one scars the rest too.

Scars are sinister - their darkness bleeding out, bearing claws. Claws that scar your relationships, changing them for better or for worse.

Perhaps, removal is the answer?

The quest to get rid of the scars is a fool’s errand. A downward spiral with no return. The wish to get rid of scars is a scar in itself - one left by the blade of self-hatred, a repulsive one. An ever growing one. Something that whispers to you during the darkest of nights, “You are defined by nothing but your mistakes.”

“Scars fade”

Maybe one grows around the scars, layer by layer, muffling the pain.

New scars appear all the same. More painful ones - ones that overshadow their predecessors. But the old scars remain, underneath the growth. Waiting to leak darkness. Like a smear of black paint across a masterpiece. Jarring. Revolting.

Yet, darkness breeds light. You heal through the pain.

Healing is a process-a beautiful one at that too. Healing doesn’t mean that the scars or the pain cease to exist. It just means learning to live with them while not allowing them to define you.

Some scars run very deep. Etched to your very soul. Carving intricate patterns, patterns you don’t recognise . An unpleasant companion. But nothing can be done about it. Just march on forward. Learning. Acquiring new scars.

Perhaps the most important thing to realise is that all of us are scarred. Scarred to a point where we scar the ones around us too, reflecting our ugliest traits. Be kind to the ugly parts too.

Scars are marks of survival. Of perseverance. Earned by weathering an unforgiving terrain. But, what’s the point of an easy journey? Life is all about having problems and learning to solve them.

An easy life is a tasteless one.

Scars don’t beautify, they mutilate you, changing you in so many ways.

However, there is grace in change.