Needle to Skin

What do you think about tattoos? Do you think they’re fun or silly? Unnecessary or important? Do you have any? What do you think about people who have one? Or those who have twenty?

Have you ever wondered how people come to have them? I don’t mean the needle-to-skin part. I mean it’s interesting how people can see one thing — a bird, a word, a symbol, or phrase — and give it so much meaning based on their life experiences they have it engraved on themselves. It could be a lover’s name or a music note, something that has a completely different meaning, or lack thereof, to someone else. We inscribe it upon ourselves because that’s as close as we can get to making it a part of us. Maybe it’s just for us, and maybe to show off to the world, too. Interesting, right?

I have one tattoo. It’s a reminder to myself to be courageous in everyday life, to not be afraid of breaking routines, and to do things that scare me. As it reads, it is to “disturb the universe.” Recognize it? It’s from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

To me, my tattoo means to disturb my universe. Of course, T.S. Eliot’s poem is about so much more. It’s about growing old and being afraid, about hearing judgment (from others and yourself), about sleeping and waking, living your life one day and not really living at all the next. In fact, one line questions what “makes [him] so digress,” which is quite the understatement. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully understand that poem.

In the end, though, my tattoo is about following this belief and goal to disturb the universe (and to pay homage to the AP Literature class in high school that opened so many doors for me). It makes sense that my tattoo is from something I read, but I want to know, why did you (or would you) get a tattoo? It’s amazing how much meaning words can hold. Tell me yours.

After all, my sister has eight tattoos and counting, and one is a rabid rat. But who am I to say hers are meaningless compared to mine?