The Meaning of my Tattoo
I’ve wanted a tattoo for a while now. But I wasn’t going to get one for the sake of having one. I didn’t want one that however cool it looked now would in the future look like a relic or some kind of permanent picture of only a short period in my life. I let the idea of a tattoo, and my ideas for one, mull around in my head for the better part of a decade. I finally found a design that I wanted. It was completed over four sessions by Masami at Gemini. Her work speaks for itself.
The main part of the whole is the clock, whose origin you hopefully recognize. Time stands for Order. A minute is sixty seconds. An hour is sixty minutes. A day is twenty-four hours (though the Earth’s rotation is not exactly that). And so on. Perhaps Time, though man-made, is the most orderly thing we have. However, Time is also subjective. If I’m pressed to do something I abhor, an hour feels like a week. If I’m enjoying some self-selected activity, the hour feels like a minute. Under this paradox, the clock, or Time, melts. In Order, there is Disorder.
One of the figures is a man made of books or pages of books. He is on fire. Whenever I look at this guy, which unfortunately I have to do in the mirror, I feel sad. He is defeated. In my mind, one of the byproducts of Disorder is loss of knowledge (or maybe better: wisdom). Basically, this is what this man represents. But, again notice his sorrowful countenance. The fire that is engulfing him is no accident or self-inflicted punishment. This was done to him. So a more advanced state of Disorder brings about the purposeful destruction of knowledge. Such depravity is rampant today, and perhaps has been since the beginning.
The other figure is an alive skeleton cradling a dead man. The skeleton to me represents Death. But notice how he is holding the man: close to his chest. Notice how he looks at the man: with compassion, care…maybe even love? This part represents the hope that is in Death. Here is the lone positive in all the negativity of the entire tattoo (I have an idea to get another sleeve on the other side highlighting “positive” things). How can there be anything positive in Death? For those that believe in the possibility of Heaven after life, like me, there is immense joy in the prospect of seeing our Creator. For those that are suffering, Death provides a welcomed release for that person and his family. I imagine Death doing his job with a bit of reluctance, with a bit of pity in the stone of his heart for what he inflicts on humans. And this image represents to me that even in the worst situation a human can find himself in – death of oneself or of a loved one – (and I do think Death is the worst situation. When I die, I am no longer here. Everything I did and was is gone unless I find something that will cause my name to endure. And how many have toiled to that end and failed? When someone close to us dies, what fills that spot in existence that that person previously filled? Nothing can. Nothing ever will. Life marches on, until it is stopped abruptly in due time.) there is still comfort, hope, and certainty of something better.
Follow the links below if you want to see the tattoo.
Bellicose Blatherings 
Comments