When I was 13 I sustained a jagged wound on my right inner forearm just below the elbow. I was at the swimming pool and I reached over an old chain link Long Fence to fetch my towel which had dropped on the other side. I pulled my arm back after I had secured my towel and I received a massive gash from the fence. I bled like a “stuck hog” and I got blood everywhere. I was taken by the swimming pool staff to physicians office where I received 9 stitches and a pretty hefty bandage. I cried like a little baby. Also, I was supposed to play a baseball game that night and so I did. I could not extend my arm for fear of popping the stitches from the wound. But, like a stupid 13 year old I played 2nd base. Around the 2nd inning I got a grounder to my right near the bag, I turned like I normally would and uncorked a perfect throw to the first baseman. Blood gushed out from under my hefty bandage and ran down my arm. I played injured, I survived my teenage idiocy, and to this day I have a scar that reminds me of my youth. Nobody can ever say that I could not play hurt. It’s been the story of my life.
Each of us have scars either on our bodies or in our psyche or in our hearts that attest t o our toughness to “take the pain” and still go on. Rarely, do any of us take the time to explain the scars and often nobody else even knows about our scars. Scars are deeply personal and should remain so. Afterall, they belong to our human experience.
As noted, a scar is simply a reminder to ourselves and to those who know us that we have taken a hit and survived. When we lose at sports, academics, at love, or in the workplace we learn something more about our constitution as people. The biggest lesson is that we cannot quit just because we are hurt. We have got to learn the lessons related to digging deep. Finding the strength and reasons to keep going. When we are injured there is always a scar from the encounter with defeat. This scar is a reminder that we are tougher than we look or feel. We have learned also to win when winning seems out of the question.
I can recall standing beside some of the fastest sprinters in the state and thinking life is about to be a crushing experience. I prepared for the worst as I got down into the blocks. But, years of training and years of pushing myself had prepared me for this moment….little did I know. When the gun went off and the 60 yard dash was all there was for about 5 seconds there was only effort and pain. I finished 3rd with my fastest time ever and I was just 15 years old. The scars of shin splints, sprained ankles, strained groin muscles, split calf muscles were my badges to bear. Nobody saw them but they were mine.
Each of us bears the markings and scars of being a winner. Nobody can give us what we have to learn. Life tries to hurt us just by showing up. But, the real testament to our human experience is whether we will try again when we have been hurt. We will never always win. But, we will always be given the opportunity fo overcome a personal hurt whether it is physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual or professional.
My parting comment is from the New Testament: “Be strong, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world…..and all of us must overcome our own world………So, ignore the scars. They don’t hurt anymore but are simply reminders that we can have life after injury and hurt.
Ge back to the gym! Being hurt is not death!
Six Pack and Senior 
👏👍 very inspiring and motivating.
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