All Tatted Up

In October I went with my amazing middle sister to get a tattoo.  I spoke of experiencing physical pain in my last blog; this was definitely up there as some of the worst I've ever felt!  But self-inflicted pain is something I generally avoid, mind you.  Anyway, so this tattoo I designed.  Sort of.  I decided on the location, format, and then the languages really dictated the look.  "Hope" in 14 languages is now what is permanently inked in black on my pale skin on the left side of my back.

(A sample section of my tattoo)

After getting the tattoo, I thought it an ironic thing that I got a tattoo that would instill hope in me in a location where I can never see it.  Huh.  But then I thought, the location is actually symbolic in many ways and I didn't even realize it.  One, hope has always got my back!  So punny, I know.  Two, even though I can't see hope, it is always there somewhere inside of me (and now on me!).  Three, I tried to figure out why I instinctively wanted the tattoo on my left side and not my right.  I thought, maybe I'm cursed!  (I don't actually think I am, FYI). Biblically speaking, the left side of the body (or things "sent to the left") is cursed, while the right side is considered righteous or holy.  In the camps that Nazi Germany set up for the mass murdering of Jews (and others), if you were ordered to walk to the right, you would live (however temporarily).  If you were sent to the left, you would "disappear" forever.  An atrocity in history that will never be forgotten.

Hungarian Jews, marked with a Star of David, queue on their way into Auschwitz in 1944

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518619/Winter-camps-Holocaust-survivor-died-Auschwitz-worked-concentration-camps-aged-just-13-recalls-bitterest-months-Nazi-persecution.html#ixzz3Kamc8b5V
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When I thought of this, I thought maybe choosing the left side of my back really was a mistake.  But I found a shimmer of light in this decision.  If the left side really is "cursed," biblically speaking, then that means there is hope even in the curse.  Furthermore, in speaking figuratively of the Nazi camps, there is hope even when things are looking so bad for you.  Even when you think you can't go on.  Even if you've been sentenced to emotional condemnation.  HOPE is there.  Hope will never leave.  In my case, it is tattooed on my back, so it really isn't going anywhere.  But in all of our cases, if you are breathing and reading these words, it is tattooed on your hearts.  Each human was born with hope.  Even when we can't see it or feel it, it is there.  Never lose heart.

I hope my tattooed enlightenment could inspire you like it did me.