Dionne got 'Strength Hope Happiness' in Thai written along her foot, and Nicole will be happy to know the Dionne went first, not me! We decided Dionne should go first because hers was going to be a lot quicker than mine and she may not have been so keen on it after over an hour of me screaming! Dionnes didn't seem to hurt so much which made me reasonably calm...
Except my tattoo is on the side of my torso underneath where my bra strap sits. It was EXTREMELY painful, I almost passed out. It was so hard to keep still I couldn't speak or breathe because it moves your stomach. I swore, a lot. It was a strange pain because it also tickled a lot, and of course I couldn't start laughing either!
I guess you'll want to know what the actual tattoo is..
I got one of the Elephants from the Elephant Nature Park, his name is Hope. The Thai word for 'Freedom' is written underneath.
The reason behind it starts with my last trip to Thailand and the Elephant Nature Park. I came to Thailand saying how much I wanted to ride the Elephants and never stopped to think about the consequences of my actions. I was then shocked when I learnt about how they 'break the spirit' of an Elephant and realised how naiive I was. I realised people should only need to be educated of the consequenses of their actions to make the right moral decision. And I don't want to forget that. I always want to remember what I learnt that day because it's too easy to slip back into old habits of not caring and thinking "what difference can I make" "What difference can one person make?"
Freedom means a lot to me. I think it means different things to everyone but I beleive everyone has the rights to their own freedom however they find it. I am very lucky in life to have the freedoms I have. I'm certainly not the only one who finds travelling a form of freedom but there are so many other ways to be 'free' that I am get to find. Freedom of the Elephant represents a lot to me because it was the start of my realisation that animals on this earth suffer just as we do and they have the right to freedom equally.
I chose the Elephant 'Hope' because he was the Elephant Nature Parks orphan who, instead of breaking his spirit, is being brought up with positive reinforcement to prove that Elephants can we under human care without shoving them into a small bamboo cage and torturing them, some to death. Hope has freedom.
Anyway enough of the mumbo jumbo! Photos will come as soon as I can get them uploaded, the internet in Laos is SO RIDICULOUSLY SLOW! (duh)
1 comment:
This is a wonderful tattoo Emily. You never cease to impress me with your wonderful and loving heart. It's too bad I don't often meet anyone like you. I sometimes think that I am the only one who thinks as such and maybe I take it a little extreme. It is great to see that there is someone else in this world who agrees with me!
Missing you,
Anthony
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