Photo credit:  Flannon Jackson

The new dermatologist admires my tattoos.  Others have scolded.  Then he talks about a procedure on my foot.  I ask about pain.  Oh, it won’t bother you.  You have a high pain threshold.  He’s looking at my tattoos.

It is later that I realize his assumption:  you have tattoos.  Tattoos are painful.  You don’t feel pain.  So, if I could endure a tattoo it wouldn’t bother me if he cut on my foot.  This thinking is illogical.  And annoying.

Because I do not scream, moan or cry, does not mean I do not feel.  Life is full of pain.  Some of it we choose, some is inflicted upon us by circumstance.  I do not whine or complain.  I get on with embracing the moment.  For surely the next moment will be pain free.

Some people talk about the endorphins released during the tattoo process.  I never really get in touch with them or feel the promised “high.”  

I choose an artist I trust.  I contemplate the work I will carry on my body for the rest of my life.  I always forget  what it actually feels like.  As soon as the  needle stops, the pain stops.  Rather like a dentists drill…Okay, not quite.  No Novocaine. 

I do not want others to assume anything about me.  Nor do I want to assume about you.  Let us discover each other without preconceptions.  Perhaps a high thought drifting in from over the top of the full moon.  A potential for harmony.

When my current tattoos are complete, I will share.

What do others assume about you?  Is it true or false?