These days it seems more radical not to have a tattoo. I have never been turned on by the idea of injecting ink into my skin but I know that for many people it is an extremely important rite of passage.
Whether it is the name of a loved one, some Celtic knot work or as in my Granddad’s case, a blue swallow, denoting the crossing of the equator when he was in the navy, tattoos do seem to have a certain appeal.
Listening to the radio the other day, I caught a program where the speaker was quoting Carl Sagan’s famous words about The Pale Blue Dot. His wonderful wisdom was inspired by a photograph of the earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft from a distance of about 6 billion km.
Seen from about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles), Earth appears as a tiny dot (the blueish-white speck approximately halfway down the brown band to the right) within the darkness of deep space.
It is a great reminder of how vast the universe is and in comparison, how small I am.
I have often joked about having just a single dot tattooed on one of my knuckles so that I could join the tattoo club and after hearing Sagan’s words, I now feel that the significance of a pale blue dot should not be underestimated.
In imaginary conversations I hear myself saying,
‘Yeah, I’ve got a tattoo. It’s an image of the world taken from space; it took just under a minute to have done. ‘
‘What are you talking about, you freak?’
‘Here it is on my knuckle, a pale blue dot.’
What Sagan Said -
"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
Share your tattoo stories here –
Do it. For you, though, not for the tattoo club.
ReplyDeleteI have one little tattoo on my left ankle, a little fish blowing bubbles. It is cute or sweet. A little blurry now because it has been there for fifteen years or something.
It makes me smile. Like going through an old diary remembering.
I can't think of a grander thing: remembering Carl's words when looking at your hand.
Do it.
I noticed in the swimming pool at Center Parcs last week a lady with washing instructions tattooed on her belly - like the kind you get on clothes. I thought it was really funny.
ReplyDeleteI remember my paternal Grandfather's arms as being green and blue as the years has faded the designs away.