Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul - Paint Brush

            So as we are learning about adolescent development I can’t help but revert back to those years and think about my own experiences.  One book series which I related to as an adolescent was the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul series.  So I decided to pull the books out (yes there is more than one edition…three to be exact) and pull out one of my favorites to share with you all.  This poem comes from the first edition of the series and is classified under the On Love and Kindness section.  It is entitled Paint Brush:

I keep my paint brush with me

Wherever I may go,

In case I need to cover up

So the real me doesn’t show.

I’m so afraid to show you me,

Afraid of what you’ll do – that

You might laugh or say mean things.

I’m afraid I might lose you.

I’d like to remove all my paint coats

To show you the real, true me,

But I want you to try and understand,

I need you to accept what you see.

So if you’ll be patient and close your eyes,

I’ll strip off all my coats real slow.

Please understand how much it hurts

To let the real me show.

Now my coats are all stripped off.

I feel naked, bare and cold,

And if you still love me with all that you see,

You are my friend, pure as gold.

I need to save my paint brush, though,

And hold it in my hand,

I want to keep it handy

In case somebody doesn’t understand.

So please protect me, my dear friend

And thanks for loving me true,

But please let me keep my paint brush with me
Until I love me, too

By Bettie B. Youngs

I think this poem does a great job at articulating all of the difficulties an adolescent has with their emotional development and their definition of self-concept which comes with the cognitive development.   I liked this poem when I was an adolescent and I still like it now.