Scars: Behind the Mask

I wrote this song in September 2005 in one night. At the time, it was the most personal song I had written. I thought I would never top this writing. Then, I wrote Answers this year. This month I’ve finally written and produced the music track for Scars.

This song is a true to life story. Even now, thinking of what to write about stirs up many emotions – some unresolved, some accepted.

I was born with many medical problems that has left me with several physical scars. Whew! (Okay… I can do this…)

For 99% of my life, I’ve kept these scars hidden from the physical view. As a kid I avoided a lot of ridicule by being quiet, shy, and keeping to myself. I’ve never been an extroverted type of person, I have only learned through adulthood how important it is to speak up if/when you want to be heard. That lesson has helped me overcome my scars and forge forward into becoming a well balanced man.

Have you ever met a man too afraid to fall in love,
because of the scars that won’t disappear?
What’s life without someone special to be thinking of,
not the scars that are always here?

I guess the older you get, the more mature you become, and the less you care about what people think of you. When you realize all you truly have is Love for people and you can see that we all suffer some kind of pain, then you can begin to find the relevance and meaning of your experience. With that understanding, you can confidently share your experience with Love that can positively impact someone else’s life to move forward and grow.

Who hasn’t been afraid to fall in love these days, fearing the pain of a breakup, the trouble from “drama”, the disappointments of selfishness, and surrendering to the doubts? I’m trying to shift my focus, y’all, and stop being so guarded against chances to fall in love. I’m trying to enhance my other qualities like self-esteem, wit, maturity, knowledge, Spirituality, and my passion for music and writing. I fight to keep a balanced perspective of my physical body as just a “shell”, with scars, pimples, short height, baggy eyes, and my two gapped-teeth…HA!!!!!

Kids are influenced by everything they see
thinking that’s how they’re supposed to be
Mamas and papas teach your babies’ minds to be free
that’s how they’re supposed to be

For so many years, I’ve avoided taking pictures because I thought I’d never measure up to the perfect expectations. I was so locked into the media hyped-up value of image and lifestyle. Being so young and unaware, it is easy to want what you see “out” there because it’s not inside or around you. Thanks to technology and Photoshop we can all look flawless, photo-finished like in a magazine.

But, I don’t want that anymore. Still, people feed the contradictions by being distracted from a positive message because it doesn’t “look” right. How is positive supposed to look anyway? I thought being positive was about a feeling, a mentality.

We all have Scars, whether they are physical or emotional. All I can really do is hope that you will not deny or ignore your scars, but you instead reshape them in your mind to being those distinguishing marks that make up a beautiful You!

Thank you!