Encrustation: a nicer term

The title of this article is perhaps the most appropriate synonym for the word I really intended to use: scab.

An encrustation or scab is what forms over a sore or wound during healing. Unfortunately, humans all too often tear away the scab before the mending is complete.

My first real experience with this phenomenon was the result of a fall upon my knee as a young child. As I think back now to one of those accidents, I remember that my worst fear was the initial cure my parents always prescribed: Mercurochrome!

There was nothing I detested more than that stinging orange tinted antiseptic. Trying as hard as I could, I would do my best not to cry during its application, but generally that attempt was to little avail.

My parents would tender encouraging words to try and allay my pain and fear, but that instant spasm of discomfort was just too much. After applying this tortuous liquid, they did offer one regular remedy. They would blow softly over the wound to try and alleviate some of the irritating smart. The benefit of their cooling breath was inconsequential, but it went a long way towards making me feel better emotionally.

A bandage was the next step for the proper and safe healing of the abrasion. I would be very attentive and careful for the first day or so to not dislodge the bandage. I knew that if that happened, any progress in healing would be stymied, and the process would start all over again.

After a few days, the band-aid was removed and the newly formed scab could now be seen for the first time since my fall. The encrustation was an intriguing thing to observe. It was an ugly darkish brown that seemed barely attached as a veneer-like topping over the original wound.

Eventually, the scab appeared to shrink in size and took on an older, withered look. This was the dangerous time for me. As the healing continued, the new skin beneath the scab began to itch. Try as I might to not scratch the scab, I almost always failed.

Sometimes I tore at the scab while my mind wandered with other thoughts. When this happened, the scab would be torn away just at the most critical time of recovery. I would be disconsolate, as I discovered a fresh new area of bleeding, where I had dislodged the scab. The only saving grace, was that this new scrape would only be a fraction in size, to the initial wound.

This process might happen two or more times before new pink soft skin brought the cycle to a finish. The replacement skin was just as interesting as the wound and scab had been in their own right.

After a time, some wounds would heal to the point that you could hardly see where the scab had been. More often, there would remain telltale signs of the former abrasion.

Most of us can locate a few small white scars on our bodies resulting from those accidents of long ago. Childhood has left all of us with life-struggling disfigurements. These marks are historical, and most of us remember the exact accidents that caused them.

We humans have other scars hidden from vision. These represent the events that have injured our hearts and souls. Just because they are not in plain sight does not mean they aren't serious afflictions.

These wounds in our minds also need healing. The scabs that cover our painful memories are so very similar to those of the body.

These wounds come in a variety of types. All humans have appetites for certain things that are harmful to them. Food, alcohol and drugs are the three best known addictive classifications.

Billions of dollars have been spent in efforts to curb the over-consumptions of these products with an abysmal record of success. The despair resulting from these failures is the bane of our modern world.

Many an alcoholic or drug addict tells the same tale. They realize they are in trouble. They go through process to attempt to heal. Then when success is just beginning to be possible, they "fall off the wagon."

It is like tearing away a scab just a few days before it has completed its healing task. Once the fall from sobriety takes place, the wound of addiction begins its ugly bleeding once more.

No hidden human wounds are more painful than those of the human heart. When love is involved, people can and will cause terrible pain to themselves and others.

There are very few humans who have not experienced the proverbial broken heart. Each of them can tell you that this pain is the greatest they have ever known. The reaction to this agony can cause danger to themselves and others. Crimes of the heart have led to violence, murder and even suicide.

Most of us just internalize these romantic wounds. As time passes we allow them to form a scab of protection that gradually lessens the torment. Inevitably comes a time when the scab is torn away.

Merle Haggard had a number one hit record that tells us this story in music: "Today I started loving you again!" I like the second line where he sings, "now I'm right back where I've really always been."

The scars of the heart and soul remain forever with us, as do those scrapes and scabs from our childhood. Each of them is there to remind us that we live in a world that can cause pain and injury.

The great thing about life however, is that we have scabs to cover these wounds, allowing them to heal. I just wish that there had been a love Mercurochrome to have let some of those old heartbreaks scab over faster. But then what would Haggard have had to write about?