Misery loves company, and you can find such a company on social media. People are always there to share your pain, or maybe tease you a little for it. It’s also a convenient place to relive your awkward phase and find out how you stack up against other elementary school memories.
Even for those of us who escaped elementary school with few blemishes and flawless records, we likely have at least one scar: pencil lead.
If it seems like getting poked with a pencil is a rite of passage when you’re in grade school, well, there’s a reason for that.
In first grade the teacher made @El_Tor0 my reading buddy and he wasn’t too happy about it, so he stabbed my left pinky with his mechanical pencil. I’ve had this led stuck in me ever since.🙃😂 pic.twitter.com/FoBojuMo38
— Berenice. (@garciaberenice_) January 8, 2019
Twitter user @Los_Writer wanted to meet more like that and, boy, did he get what he wanted. Although he has since taken her tweets private, the evidence lives on, as are all those pencil shards stuck on people’s bodies so many years after graduation.
We’ve all been there, right? A simple hit, in the past, that stays with you for the rest of your damn life. It’s like a reminder that is constant in nature, of where you were and what was going through your mind when it happened.
When I wash my hands I think of Priscilla Havlis. In 10th grade before Miss Apple's English class we were teasing each other. Priscilla took matters into her own hands – & mine – & stabbed me with a sharp #2 lead pencil. Graphite, 45+ years later is a reminder not to tease girls. pic.twitter.com/gFWqmt0hQY
— peter wilt (@PeterWilt1) April 3, 2020
The pencil lead gets stuck under the skin, either from malice or sheer clumsiness, and the mark it leaves never goes away.
You can erase the pencil from the paper, but once it is under your skin, it will be there forever.
8th grade.. Running with a pencil. pic.twitter.com/q59CnDxxIp
— Riles (@RileySletten) January 9, 2019
As much as you want to erase the circumstances around that little gray dot, you can’t. This guy will never run with a sharp, sharp pencil in hand again.
For some people, it is as if their childhood traumas are on their skin.
Mate told me to check how sharp his pencil was, as I went closer to look he stabbed me in the nose, that was when I was 7 and it’s still there now 🤦🏼♂️🤣 pic.twitter.com/zZ1JOgH84N
— Oliver Bunyan (@oliverbunyan) January 9, 2019
It’s certainly a lasting reminder, isn’t it? Generally speaking, people can always remember the accompanying history of lead under the skin.
Perhaps for some, it serves as a reinforcement of some of their elementary school lessons?
https://twitter.com/HepolaSamuel/status/1082712886429040645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1082712886429040645%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrafty.diply.com%2Fc%2F29042%2Fif-you-can-still-see-pencil-stabbed-you-grade-school-you-are-not-alone
I bet this guy will never forget his single-digit multiplication now. Either that or hell will always hate single-digit multiplication.
It is amazing the variety of body parts that people have pierced with pencils.
my sister threw a pencil at me when i was in third grade & was just an inch away from being blind pic.twitter.com/BkrYll5sTE
— ashley serafin (@serff_board) January 9, 2019
And how many brushes with more serious matters have people had. Sibling rivalry is tough when you’re growing up!
Seriously, the number of leads transferred from one sibling to another sibling is too high.
The task is tough, but man, it’s not worth the stabbing. Perhaps that is a lesson in itself.
Furthermore, the number of people who have been directly attacked with pencils is alarming.
LMAO THIS KID STABBED ME WITH A PENCIL IN ART 2 YEARS AGO AND JUST MESSAGED ME TO APOLOGIZE pic.twitter.com/uXPuYAs16T
— Emma Freitas (@emmaafreitas) October 28, 2016
But the credit goes, I suppose, to the one who at least tried to apologize for it, albeit years later. Making amends is very important!
Is it possible to escape elementary school without a pencil lead embedded in your person?
Hello right knee 2nd grade. My first tattoo. pic.twitter.com/RED1PNKTMz
— shy ✨ (@shyannrachael) January 8, 2019
It’s like you and your friends get matching tattoos to commemorate your trip to Iceland or something.
Everyone seems to have a story to share with the scars of old pencils.
The good news is, if you got poked really well, you would find out who cared about you. Good work, aunt!
It’s frankly surprising that more friendships haven’t been ended by random pencil incidents.
My friend stabbed me in the arm with his pencil and I’m the one who got detention🙃 been in there 8 years😂 pic.twitter.com/FeIc98O4ws
— Rosss!! (@RossCairns2) January 9, 2019
I mean, there is a grave injustice behind some of these. How does the victim get the arrest?
But I think the worst of all is those of us who do these things to ourselves.
Stabbed my jaw with a pencil on accident in 3rd grade. 18 years ago. pic.twitter.com/RyY3HzZQvy
— Haley Sadlo (@haleysadlo) January 9, 2019
Yikes! This is so me. If I were to screw it up, it would be exactly like this, scarring my own face for life.
It is good to know that I am not alone!
