Never Forget!

Eleven years ago today, I stood in front of my manager explaining the brace on my arm from a mountain biking accident and why that was not going to allow me to earn my paycheck that day. It was difficult getting his attention as it was fixated on the television behind me. When I turned around I heard a fellow waiter yell "Oh my God, what was that?" As I stared at the television I watched a second plane crash into the remaining World Trade Center Tower. My brain unwilling to accept the image before me.

Eleven years later I find myself reflecting over where I've been and how blessed I am to still be alive. I was no where near any of the needless violence that day but as I look back I am reminded of how fragile life is; how short of a time we all have. I find myself looking down at the inked tattoo design on my arm and wonder what it really means to me, since one day it will be nothing but ash and dust.

It is then that I realized it takes a certain kind of person to receive a tattoo, or any body modification for that matter. It takes a warrior; an individual who resists social conformity and stands for liberty. It takes an individual capable of standing alone; willing to lay down their life for their beliefs. It takes a person who wants to remember the past pleasures and pains so they may grow and never forget.

Even with the rise in popularity of tattoos, it is still the counter culture brother and sisterhood of the modern day warrior. I hope you will join my in-depth journey as we discover together, over the next several months, what tattoos mean to us, what they say about where we have been and what they can tell us about where we need to go. More so, I hope you take a moment today to remember the pain from our past so that we may never forget but also, that we may grow.

(Tattoo images from various internet resources, via Google Image)