Splinters

Every experience in our lives leaves a mark. Positive or negative, it is etched in the canvas of who we are and our becoming. We start life and within seconds our canvas is already stained with blood and tears, love and pain, worry, relief, joy, sorrow & fear. The veil is thin at first, while innocence still lingers, and we long for the peace of what lies behind its gossamer threads while we face the life we have just been given. As we grow and learn, free will takes over, innocence slowly wanes, we forget about the veil and our canvas becomes more complex and layered with life's experiences.


In time, the canvas becomes three dimensional, as we begin to add elements to it. Each choice, each path taken, each fork in the road, a new element in its depth and story.  Sometimes, we find our canvas leaving splinters on our skin, reminders of choices and experiences in the building up and tearing down and rebuilding of who we are along the way. The splinters can fester and become infected and poison the soul, or they can take root into the fabric and design of us and strengthen the skin like armor woven within. Its all about perspective, did that splinter teach you something?


Life is a constant learning and growing experience. When its over, our canvas is full and complex. I imagine it as comparative to a Picasso abstract, only accurately interpreted by those closest to the artist. I am a great artist and I wear full body armor every day, as I walk the streets of life. I endure the splinters and the wonderment of others as they observe my canvas and wonder what it is they are looking at. Interpreting the art.  I carry my palette and my brushes with great pride knowing I've come far from where I began peaking back through the veil.