Kerid Crater, Iceland. 2017

We all remember the day of the incident that scarred us, and changed our lives forever. Some of us remember the exact time, the scent, the words, the sounds. We remember every tingle and every tear. In the moment, the unexplainable was happening, the unimaginable, the unattainable, the inevitable. Not only was it happening, not only was it real, but it was present with a force, assuring we felt every ounce of pain, and it wasn’t leaving quietly. It was preparing to leave a mark. It was forcing a dent, a scar, a blemish, a distinguished feature, a crater, and ultimately, a distinct memory. Selfishly, this experience becomes the center of attention, and maybe not necessarily the preferred topic of discussion, but most certainly the elephant in the room. This new scar is uncomfortable, because it’s impossible to hide. It’s too large, too foreign, too complicated to explain. Yet, in nature, when we come across a crater of some sort, we find these “scars” to be “beauty marks.”

Nature’s scars become National Parks and World Wonders. We write articles and books about them, we rave on social media, we spend lots of money to see them in person, we travel the distance and make sacrifices, we take lots of pictures, tell our family and friends, we promote and advocate, and we become their biggest fans. At what point, after observing and obsessing, do we self-reflect? At what point after exercising all of those activities do we stop, sit, and have compassion for ourselves?

Similar to Earth, we too have experienced some shakes, quakes, rumbles, punctures, and blemishes; pain that has created scars, but aren’t they beauty marks as well? Why aren’t we turning our craters into wonders of our own worlds? Why are we not viewing them as art, taking photos, writing articles and books, telling our family and friends? The pain becomes beautiful, because it’s a part of us. It becomes something to talk about, study, discuss, observe, document, appreciate, share, and maybe even something we turn into profit, but let’s not keep our craters to ourselves. Similar to Earth’s natural wonders, we too, have scars, that become beauty marks.

After the storm – the sun shined, the rainbow appreared, the clouds were like candy, the flowers blossomed, and everyone thought you were so beautiful, but you thought it was only because of the sun.