Most people who are given this assignment will choose to write about a physical scar. In a few minutes time, they will think of a four-wheeler crash that nearly gave their mom a heart attack, or a rough tackle on the football field that nearly sent them to the hospital.

“My sister pushed me off my bike,” one girl says, and another adds, “I fell off a tree as tall at Mount Everest and broke my arm, which gave me this scar.”

And when it is my turn to talk about my scar, the class soon realizes that mine is unlike theirs in many ways.

“My scar is different than the others presented today,” I began, “because my scar can’t be healed by a single person, or over the course of a year.”

“Sixth grade is about the time when we really start to define ourselves -- as rebels, straight-A students, or free-thinkers. Some choose that as the year to get fit, others choose that as the year to ‘go green’. I chose sixth grade as the year to pay attention to the world around me -- and the problems within it.”

“Every day, a new, more tragic story appeared within the pages of the 'Daily Journal'. A family of 5 in Africa died of malaria disease, one right after the other. A four-month-old baby girl named Mira-Lynn was kidnapped from her Serbian home, never to be seen again. The Twin Towers fell and killed thousands of people on September 11, 2001. Reading and hearing about these experiences made me think about if it had been me in those situations. It caused me to want to make a difference.”

“Still, I feel saddened when I see a report of someone dying before their spirit was due to leave. Unlike physical scars, mine cannot be healed by a certain person or period of time. And I don’t think the scars etched on the surface of my heart will ever dissipate until the things that cause them -- like war, world pain, murder -- are no more.”

“Everyone interprets pain differently. Sometimes a scar of the heart can be much deeper than on gathered from a four-wheeler crash or a hard tackle in football. They can remain long after you have left your corporeal being, while physical scars will be gone the moment you depart from this world. These scars become a part of your spirit and tend to linger after the event takes place.”

“My scar is different than the others presented today because mine will last forever,” I finished, and with that, I took my seat.