Sometimes I look at my body and see a scar that takes me back in time.
The pure white circular scar on my calf is one that I got in Mexico riding on the back of a motorcycle. My leg hit the exhaust pipe. The burn put me off scuba diving for several days and every now and then I see it and remember the time I went to Mexico on my own to go diving.
There’s an inch long scar on my wrist that always haunts me. My fourth grade teacher punished me for who knows what (probably not paying attention, or talking, or giggling) and she stood me in the corner and whacked me with a ruler. The kind of ruler that had metal along the edge. I don’t remember the blood or pain but I remember my mom going full blast at the school.
My kneecap has a scar from when I fell on the gravel road where we lived. The mean neighbor girl constantly picked on me and every time she pushed me down, the scab came off until it finally healed (I stayed clear of her) and became another scar on my body.
Only my ENT doctor can see the scar up in my nose from when I was playing baseball and caught a bad hop to third base. My teammates said they heard the crack of my nose breaking.
While scars can be reminders of pain, they can also be a roadmap of healing that has occurred.
My worst scar is 60 stitches, three layers deep, down to the bone. I don’t remember the pain of that injury as I was in shock from going through a window and pulling back out and the blood. What I remember was how gross it looked and how many months it took to be able to walk without a limp after the full length cast came off.
Scars can signify resilience, survival and overcoming of hardships. The significance can vary widely in different cultures. Accident scars are recognized but the meaning and significance attached to them can vary widely, reflecting the complex relationship between the human body, individual experiences, and societal norms.
In reading up on scars I found more about cultures that use scarification (the process of cutting or branding) in men to look more ferocious in battle and attractive to women.
My scars are simply from life, not something I’d show off or take pride in, or thinking I looked cool because of them.
According to National Geographic, scarification has become remarkably widespread in the U.S. and Australia and across Europe, from London to Prague.
National Geographic tells how in the Ethiopia’s Karo tribe, men scar their chests to represent killing enemies from other tribes. Women with scarred torsos and chests are considered particularly sensual and attractive.
Also, scarring was practiced widely among Aboriginal peoples in Australia but it’s now restricted almost entirely to parts in the Northern Territory. At the age of 16 or 17, cuts are made on the chests, shoulders, and bellies of both men and women. Without these scars, “clean skin” tribe members were traditionally not permitted to trade, sing ceremonial songs, or participate in other tribal activities.
According to the National Institutes of Health, in many Western societies, where intentional scarification is not a traditional practice, scars (including those from accidents) are more commonly viewed through a lens of imperfection or a reminder of a past trauma. The emphasis is often on minimizing their appearance or seeing them as something to overcome.
I once wrote a story about the scars of pregnancy and how women with stretch marks wore clothing designed to show off their scars. In the story women with pregnancy scars were more powerful than those without.
What’s a girl to do?…don’t get me started on stretch marks!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments at lucywgtd@gmail.com
