Do you have scars? I bet you do unless you have never walked on this earth before. If you’re reading this, I am sure you do have one. We all have scars and there is a story behind them.
As a kid growing up, I have sustained many injuries while playing with friends, playing football, and while walking or running on un-tarred roads with many harmful objects on it. Scars remind us of our past and how we survived it.
I have many scars but there are some that I cannot forget. They are visible. I see them every day and it keeps reminding me of the lessons I learned from it. For the fact that they are visible, people do often ask me the story behind them. I tell this story with sincerity so that people can learn from it, too.
At 19, I was brutally stabbed by a notorious cultist because I stood against cheating and bullying. Actually, I was not the one he aimed to cheat and bully. It was my friend that ran to me for help which I took it upon myself to fight back. There is no intention to fight with this cultist in the first place, but out of anger and frustration we encountered in a one-on-one fisticuffs. Suddenly he broke a bottle on the ground and I ran for my life. I had never fought with broken bottles before.
He ran after me while I was looking for a haven to hide. I ran into a small shop nearby thinking he won’t come after me. It was dark inside the shop and his first attempt was my arm then my head. I struggled hard to stop him but I couldn’t find anything to fight him back. My knuckles can’t bear the pain of a weapon (broken bottle). I tried as much as I can and escaped from him.
Before this awful incident, a friend came to me that the cultist has been looking for me because I told his allies that what he has done is not right. He doesn’t have the right to do such things for people who live in this community. So, this particular friend told me to fight the cultist that he can’t do anything. He said: you train every day and you’re strong. So, why can’t you fight him? I was misled by his advice. And now, I am the one that suffered the pain alone.
The cultist was arrested for his crime, but his family came to plead on his behalf. This pleading goes on and on for more than a week. I will never forgive him I said. He will spend all his life in the prison for what he has done. After many pleadings, my mom talked to me and she said I should let it go and forgive. It was very difficult to let it go. All I want is revenge. After many consolations, I forgave him and let it go. He called me on the phone and pleaded more, so I forgave him.
I have learned to forgive from my scars, I have learned not to listen to people without thinking for myself first, I have learned that not all fight worth fighting, and I have learned to let it go and move on.
We all have unforgettable scars but what have you learned from yours?
-MOAB © 2014
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