T R U T H

June 23, 2004

My friend Jerry looks about the same as he always did. He still has all his hair, and he's as trim and in shape as ever. I'm sure having a yoga instructor for a wife doesn't hurt. But anyway, there was one thing that had changed since the last time I'd seen him: this time, he had a tattoo.

I noticed it as soon as I walked in, although at first I wasn't sure if that's what it was. At first glance, or rather out of the corner of my eye, I thought it may have been a hand stamp from a nightclub. I thought that maybe he'd gone to see a band the night before and the stamp hadn't washed off yet. But when I looked closer, I saw that it was too clean and sharp to be a stamp. What he had was the word "T R U T H" in a simple font written across the back of his hand. It wasn't very big, but certainly large enough to read clearly from several feet away. "Is that a tattoo?" I asked.

It's not an unusual question, of course, but it's rarely asked about something so conspicuous. It's usually asked about something peeking out from under a shirt sleeve or a waistband. But it was just so un-tattoo-like that I had to ask about it. "Yeah," he said, rubbing it with the fingers of his other hand.

He explained that it was a motto of sorts. He works in advertising -- developing marketing strategy and writing ad copy. It's a world that's rife with lies and liars, so he tattooed his hand to keep himself grounded. I know that a lot of tattoo parlors don't do hands, so I asked him if he had trouble finding a place to do it. "Yes! The first place I went to said no. They won't do hands unless you're a lost cause. I mean, if you have full sleeves or tattoos on your neck and stuff, then I guess they figure one more on your hand won't matter. But the first guy I went to just didn't get it, so I had to find another place."

I guess tattoos are all about individuality, as long as it's something that's been done before. I mean, I've seen plenty of people attempting to empower themselves with arbitrary tattoos chosen from a flash sheet and slapped on their bodies willy-nilly. It's funny to me that a place like that would put a dolphin on an ankle, or a flower on an ass, without a second thought, but when someone walks in with a well-thought-out idea, he gets turned away. I guess maybe a tattoo parlor isn't used to people thinking too hard about what they're going to indelibly scratch into their skin. I mean, someone who isn’t Chinese, or has no honest connection to Chinese culture, can get a Chinese character tattooed on their arm, no problem. "This is the Chinese character for strength." Really? Are you sure? Do you speak Chinese? Who told you that?"

Jerry agreed and told me that he always said, "If I ever get a tattoo, it's going to be something clearly visible, and in English." And that's exactly what he did.