Writing Love Over My Scars

Tonight Jaime Tworkowski from To Write Love on Her Arms came and talked at UWEC.  I've been interested in TWLOHA for a while and to be honest Jaime didn’t really say anything that I hadn’t heard or read before.  What stuck out to me the most was his explanation of how the name of the organization came to be. In 2006 Jaime and some of his friends helped a girl named Renee get sober and mentally well enough to enter a small treatment facility in South Florida.  At one point during her last night spent in a world filled with drugs, binge drinking, and self-harm she used a razor blade to carve the words “FUCK UP” in her forearm; it was the summation of who she viewed herself to be.  It was Jaime’s intention with his interaction with this girl “to write love on her arms” over the self-inflicted wounds of razor blades and false self-image.

Our actions reflect our view of ourselves.

I haven’t used razor blades, but I have carved my own perceptions of myself into my flesh and soul.  I have sought out a life that I felt I deserved: one that’s cold, lonely, and without hope.

After tonight, my hope is that I will learn to write love over the scars on my soul that both others and myself have caused.

Before Jaime talked this guy named Noah Gundersen played a few songs.  The song below brought me to tears, so I thought I should share it