The Lesson Of Scars

     Last week, I sat in a mediation that lasted about four hours. The mediator would go back and forth with the offers from each side. As such, my client and I sat and talked about different events that had occurred while the case had been pending. He pointed to his neck and showed me his scar from surgery. I could barely see it. He said that when he looks at it in the mirror, in the morning, it doesn't bother him. He knows that it's the reason that he has relief from his neck pain.

     That reminded me of a story I recently heard, regarding a son and father who stopped to fish. As the father was going around to get the poles out of the truck, the son pulled off his shirt and shoes and jumped in to take a quick swim. Unbeknown to them, an alligator was also there in the water, taking notice of the son. As the father looked up to see the son swimming out, he saw the alligator swimming toward his son.

     The father began frantically hollering to the son to swim back to shore. The son did just that but the alligator began closing on him. The father ran down to the shore and went to grab the son by the shoulders, just as the alligator grabbed the son by the legs. An immediate tug of war ensued with the strong jawed alligator threatening to take the boy under. However, the father would not let go and finally pulled the son from those jaws of death.

     The boy suffered injuries that took some time to resolve. Later, a local newspaper reporter wanted to do a story on the boy's rescue. He interviewed the boy and asked if he could take pictures of the scars on the boy's legs, from where the alligator had taken hold. The boy said yes, but quickly added that he wanted the reporter to also take pictures of the scars on his arms from the scratches that had been made from his father's fingernails. The boy said that, "every time I look at those scars on my arms, it reminds me that my dad just wouldn't let go".

     We all carry burdens in our lives. We all have scars, whether physical  or emotional scars. However, as this boy and my client acknowledged, some life experiences are reminders of where we've been and where we are today.