At the end of this coming February, it will be 3 years since I got my one and only tattoo. A friend of mine and I went to get it done and my artist cut me a little bit of a deal. Not as much of one as I had assumed since he and the friend I took with me were sleeping together. Maybe he felt threatened since I had dated her, too. Dunno.
Anyway, those of you familiar with “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” will be familiar with my tattoo as well because it’s one of the animation designs from the song “Origin of Love.” It’s also the tattoo Hedwig has on her thigh after the song.
In short description, for those who don’t know the song, “Origin of Love” tells the story of when humans were first on the earth. Humans were made up of two people, joined back-to-back. We had two heads, four arms, four legs. As people then, there those who were two men, those who were two women, and those who were woman and man. The gods got angered at our arrogance and Zeus cut everyone in half with his lightening bolts. The idea is that in finding love, we are looking for the other half of us, our completion. Once we’ve found that person, we become one being again. I think it’s a beautiful concept. This is my favorite part:
“Last time I saw you, we had just split in two.
You were looking at me. I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar, but I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face; I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression that the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That’s the pain, cuts a straight line down through the heart;
We called it love.”
I almost want to tear up just typing it again.
Anyway, at the end of the movie, Hedwig has another tattoo, one that shows the two faces stitched together to be one face. I’m going to get that tattoo on my other shoulder the day before my wedding…if that ever happens.
December 4, 2008 at 3:43 pm |
That is a beautiful poem (or song) but I have to disagree with it. I believe you have to be a whole person whether you’re single or not. I am a complete person with or without Josh. We’re raised with this fairy tale, it’s perpetuated by Hollywood, Broadway, Disney, you name it. And then when we do chose our partners, and we still don’t feel complete, we blame them. Or we blame ourselves. I don’t claim to have all the answers to living your life as a complete single person, but I think it’s imperative to having healthy relationships. Maybe I misinterpreted your post. Regardless, it’s an interesting and necessary discussion.
December 4, 2008 at 3:47 pm |
You didn’t misinterpret it at all. I don’t really have healthy relationships and this is probably part of the problem. I’m not 100% (or even 80%) happy with who I am most of the time. Fear not, I’m doing much better and getting better. If it weren’t for the amazing support of my therapist, I wouldn’t be where I am now.
But no, healthy relationships and I are like oil and water.
December 4, 2008 at 4:06 pm |
I guess we all struggle with valuing ourselves as much as we want our partner to value us. For example, for me, as parts of my life are stripped away, as they have been in this move, I start to lose my grip. For instance, no job, no money coming in (from my efforts at least), major loss of confidence in my appearance due to whatever the hell is going on with my face, and no projects in which to lose myself, at least not yet. (I have a few projects going on but they’re in the very early stages.) And then I get depressed and forget why I am worth something as a person. Once in awhile I remember in a moment of clarity that I am valuable because I am a child of God and He loves me (as He does all of us, not that I’m special). That is the foundation of my self-worth. That’s the only answer I have, and I know it’s not one many people want to hear. It’s not very popular to have faith in some of the circles we move in. But hey, that’s me, and liberals and academics should live up to their claims of open-mindedness and accept me, right! Anyway, I want to reiterate that this is an important discussion and I hope we can both implement these ideas into our art. Maybe we can counteract the Jerry MacGuire effect.