Just got Inked!!

So after years of procrastination, today was (unexpectedly!) finally the day I took the plunge and got my first tattoo! Yes – all those hours spent looking out of the window from my apartment in Christopher Street finally propelled the subconscious into conscious action and I found myself in Tattoo Heaven, just after midday today.  After explaining the real reason I was there was delayed peer pressure from my Mother (she’d got a tattoo there 3yrs earlier – a lower back tattoo saying “F*ck You” in Chinese characters!), the guy asked me what I was thinking of getting.  “The hell outta here” crossed my mind, but instead I replied I was looking for something pretty, discrete and feminine.  Something non-visible except to me, my gyneacologist and bikini waxer.  After looking at a gazillion non-inspiring pictures of flowers, I stumbled across a collection of Myan Tribal symbols and one in particular, Dwennimmen, really captured my attention.

Dwennimmen is a symbol from the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa and is a symbol of strength, humility, wisdom and learning.  It derives from the geometric shape of a ram’s horns  – the ram is seen as a very strong animal with graceful and magnificent horns  and, even though its horns can be used viciously and forcefully for survival, the ram normally chooses not to use them as such but to be graceful and elegant in its approach.  The strength of a ram depends not so much on the forcefulness of its horns but on the integrity of its heart.  In addition to beauty (inner and outer), Dwennimmen also signifies the necessary balance that is needed in life.  A person may be talented and gifted and may have skills and knowledge, but it is not these virtues alone that enables one to excel.  It is the creative use of these skills; the strength in mind, body and soul; and the humility that comes from understanding one’s place in the universe.  It is the learning and wisdom that comes with time that enables a person to exceed his normal capabilities and excel in his endeavours (Adinkra Dictionary by W.Bruce Willis, 1998).

I can’t think of anything better to have as my first tattoo.