Tattoos

This post steams from my desire to have a better answer prepared, when people ask me about my tattoo. It also steams from my annoyance in people assuming that because I'm inked, I must be stupid, have not thought it out, or am a lower class of person. 

First for the longest time I had no desire to have any ink on my body whatsoever. Then I had this design. I liked to draw it on things, and it had deep meaning to me. But I still had no desire to have it branded on to me. Over time I decided if I ever get a tattoo that would be what it would be, but I still didn't think i would ever do it. As time went on I wondered where I would have a tattoo in the off chance I ever got one. Then I decided I was going to get this tattoo, a year latter at 21 I finally did get it. This whole process took me ruffly 5-6 years

Now as a Christian, I realized this was an unacceptable practice in good chunk of the church's eyes. And as a student I recall a teacher quoting a verse telling me not to mark my body. She was at the time telling me I shouldn't write notes on my hands, and while I felt quite confident in the fact that was a mistranslation, I didn't want to anger God because I wanted some ink. 

So I meet with the preacher of my church, and the two of us looked into it. As we found the Bible does mention Tattoos exactly one time. That verse is:

Leviticus 9:28

 ²⁸ " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

Now if you take this just by itself it seems to be a pretty clear cut answer, but theres other stuff written around it. 

²⁶ " 'Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.  " 'Do not practice divination or sorcery. 

²⁷ " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

 ²⁸ " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

 ²⁹ " 'Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

 ³⁰ " 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

 ³¹ " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

 ³² " 'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.

Basically its a list of old Jewish laws, written for the Jews to be followed by the Jews. You know sorta like circumcision. Don't believe me lets look at some other stuff in that list: No meat with the blood still in it, sorry to everyone who likes rare meat. don't cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. yeah pretty much every guy I know breaks that one. and rise in the presence of the aged, admittedly some people still do that but not many. 

Also from what they paired tattoos with. aka cutting yourself for the dead I personally took it to mean this was a practice to morn the dead. So I figured I was safe. So next I talked it over with my parents, who while admittedly were not thrilled with what I wanted to do, told me that it was my decision, and it wouldn't cause conflicts with my family. So I went to get my tattoo. While there I was informed people can be allergic to the ink they use but this mostly only happens with the red they use. My tattoo for those who don't know has a whole bunch of red in it. So I was highly advised to get just a small amount of red and come back latter if I was fine. Obviously I ignored them. As I said if theres a problem then God didn't want me to have the tattoo.

Now why did I get it in the first place, well a ministry tool. The Image is of a cross in a heart, with the script "how convenient that red is the color of love" What does it mean? Well the color that most of us most associate with love is red. Red roses, red hearts, etc.. I found it quite fitting that red is also the color of blood, which represents life in the Jewish world, which was what was pored out for us on Calvary to cleanse our sins. Blood, that took a whole freaking lot of love. The ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate expression of love was red.  

Ok so does it work? Well I would say yes, you see I didn't know this before, but it seems if one has a tattoo this gives you permission to run up and grab their arm and stare at it. Which I have to admit is a bit odd, but was in a sense what I wanted. You wear a christian shirt and a person will look at it, and either A.) be a christian, so think you are awesome for expressing your faith, or B.) not be a christian so immediately write you off. The conversation never started and the witness you attempted to be pretty much failed. When some one grabs my arm, because they want to see what my tattoo says. This person has just asked me, "What do you feel is so important, that you had to have it permanently attached to your body?" Then I get to tell them, and I didn't have to force the issue, I'm playing on their court so they can't get offended. Sure they might end up shrugging me off, but I got to plant a seed

poem thingy

The truth is 
I didnt know what to say
and i didnt know what to write
the words to express 
things just right. 

Ho do i make a pen
ink a feeling
to express every action
that is breath stealing

and my mind 
its become so one track
books, films, songs, and plays
all remind me of just one fact

and i took me long enough
to figure, even when i used all my might
nothing i would do
would make the words sound just right

because there are some things
words cant express
and all one can hope
is to try his best

-the insignificant other

What do I know about love?

As one gets older I suppose it becomes normal to think more on the subject of love. So I wanted to think about what I actualy knew about what people consider a very tricky subject. Well I guess the best way to know something is to experience it first hand. So I guess the question really how have I seen love. 

One of the ways love is defined is caring for someone more than yourself. I saw this type of love demonstrated by my brother. My brother is only a year and half my junior, and we grew up in a relativly poor family. This being said we had to share most things, be it hand me down clothes, toys, or that last slice of pie or cake. Now when theres only one slice of pie left and two boys that have to eat said pie, the slice must be split in half. 100% of the time your going to magicaly have a bigger "half" or atleast one that appeared bigger. 

Now to keep things fair my mom would always make sure a diffrent one of us did the choosing of their slice everytime, ore the person who cut it had to let the other brother pick first. If we wanted to keep it as honest as possible. Now when it was my turn to pick, I did what any growing boy who liked pie would do. I selected the slice that apeared bigger to me. My brother however, with rare exception, would select the smaller slice. You could even tell him that the other slice was bigger, and he would say I know. 

It wasnt like he didn't like pie, or that I was a particularly mean brother and would beat him up if he picked the better slice. He would simply pick the smaller slice because he wanted me to have the bigger one. Now his gesture wasnt all that huge and it certainly wasnt elaberate, or probly even thought out if I'm honest. But it certainly left a lasting impact. I don't recal what a single one of those treats tasted like, it was much to long ago, but I certainly remeber the love he showed me. 

Another way people describe love is unending. I learned this from my parents.  Most the time when I observe couples that have been married for many years. I see people who have grown fond of each other, they enjoy each others company, and would be lost if the oter wasnt there. But theres no spark no desire, the love is gone and in its place is a fondness that we call love. Not so with my parents.

My mother still calls my father by pet names, they will steal kisses when they think no one is watching and I hear them playfuly teasing each other in ways that are generaly reserved for young couples. The years have taught them how to be serious, but they have also learned how to laugh with and at each other, how to be silly and goofy and keep a old flame alive.

Not to say they havent had ups and downs, as their son ive seen them at all ends of the spectrum, but they work at it. And because of that I see two people that are still increadibly atracted to each other, even though they are both nearing the 50's. To some extent its sorta weird because they are you know my parents, but when it comes down to it I don't see any love life I would rather model mine off of then theirs. 

So when I think about what I know about love I can't help but feel like I know a whole lot about it.