The Talented Shirt Maker

His life of five years had been short but filled with the training that would carve out who he would become. His father saw the skills his young son had in shirt making, the talent, the gifts; the dollar signs. He pushed his young son to be the absolute best shirt maker he could be.

Soon others took note of how beautiful this young boy's shirts were. They raved and poured on the accolades. Soon, everyone wanted one of the boy's shirts. Almost instantly the young boy was a famous shirt maker. His father continued to push him; often resorting to abuse to get more out of the boy.

As time went on the boy developed only his abilities to create beautifully crafted shirts. While this was a great talent; other areas of his development were neglected. His only friends were his siblings. Of course, being in the public eye it was extremely difficult to make true, long lasting friendships. While he did receive an education from private tutors and his scholastic knowledge grew; his social development was greatly retarded.

He longed for playgrounds and kick balls. He wished only to play hide and seek in corn fields and catch fireflies on warm summer nights. Those were mere dreams though; his purpose was to make shirts and he often spent eight to ten hours per day making shirts.

His father's scorn scarred his boyhood. The poor boy never felt his work was good enough. He never felt he was good enough.

The boy grew into a teen and then an adult. His early years under his father's grip passed and soon he was on his own. His shirt making skills were advanced and he was soon known as a great artist, a fantastic creator. Unfortunately, the boy's self esteem continued to decline. He had feelings of inadequacy. He was unable to see the talent and gifts he was able to give the world, as all he could hear in his own mind were the words of his father; driving him to be better.

Soon, he was known all around the world. His shirts were the top selling shirts in history. While this pleased the boy, the void remained. He attempted to fill the void with things money could buy; after all, he had plenty of money. No matter what he purchased, no matter how much money he made, he never felt he was good enough.

This pattern went on his entire life. He sought out the acceptance of others; never truly accepting himself. The dissatisfaction with himself grew until it hit a breaking point and he began mutilating himself. With his desire to be perfect, he scarred his exterior as his interior was scarred. As time went on, the shirt maker was mocked. His scars from the mutilations were the source of many jokes.

The regard for him went from fantastic artist to instant weirdo, sicko and freak. This drove him to seek perfection even more and his behavior became even more extreme. These extremes resulted in character judgments.

Unfortunately, the boy never recovered from the torment of his life. He yearned for his lost childhood until the day he died. While he was a beautiful artist; his internal struggle never ended. His name was known by many on earth; but few, including himself, actually knew him.