SPLIT DECISION » WILL YOU GET A TATTOO?
Edelstein wants a tattoo, maybe, if his wife lets him
I was talking to L.A. about our “Split Decision” topic via telephone yesterday. My wife was in the room. She heard my end of the conversation.
“You’re not getting a tattoo,” she said. “Don’t be an idiot.”
To which I said, “I don’t know. I want it. I just want the words, ‘This Too Shall Pass’ and the broken glass picture.”
My wife waited a beat and then this: “Draw it on yourself in pen.”
Well, she has a point, but still: If I were to get a tattoo — which I might, being that I’m an adult and can make my own decisions — there are two things I might get.
I’ve long held the belief if I were going to get a tattoo, I would make sure it was something that meant something to me. In other words: No cartoon characters.
First up is the simple phrase “This Too Shall Pass,” which I just found out is a Persian adage (who knew?). I love those four words. I run very hot and cold, and I’d prefer to be in the middle. When things are great, I’m way too high. When things are lousy, I get way too low. I need to constantly remind myself to moderate. Having “This Too Shall Pass” inked on the underside of my forearm should do the trick.
As for the other tattoo? Picture a broken drinking glass. I get this one from a Buddhist parable, which goes exactly like this (cribbed from Dr. Marc Epstein’s “Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective”): “You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.”
What does this mean? Well, pretty much the same as “This Too Shall Pass.” Life, and everything in it, is ephemeral. It’s worth constantly reminding yourself of this. Like by having it permanently inked on … the underside of my forearm.
Honestly, the only thing holding me back is my scrawny-ass forearms.