Paper Dolls

I remember when I was in 5th grade... Our teacher gave us a presentation-thing one day... She held up a paper doll. Just a plain white paper doll with no features, clothes, anything. She told us, "If someone hurts you, physically or mentally, does saying sorry make everything okay?" We answered yes, but hesitantly, because this was an altogether different circle time than ever before. She then said, "Pretend this is someone saying or doing something hurtful to you" and made a wrinkle in the paper doll. "Now lets say that person said sorry" She smoothed out the wrinkle. She then indicated the used-to-be wrinkle. "Now look, even though I've smoothed out the hurt, you can still see it. I could put a hundred dictionaries on top of this wrinkle. But in the end, it will still be there. It will be dim and almost gone, but still there. So remember, even if you say sorry, what you did will still have an impact. It will be easiest to erase the wrinkle by not putting it there in the first place."

If this helps someone, anyone, somewhere, anywhere, I'll feel like I can fly.

~Impulsive Compulsive~