Tattoo Ideas: Words & Phrases IV

The other day I was watching a documentary on VH1 called "RockDoc: The Last Days of Lisa Lopes". Lisa Lopes, better known as "Left Eye" from the all-girl hip-hop group TLC, was killed in a car crash on April 25, 2002 when she and her crew were driving around in the Honduras. They were at the tail end of a 30-day retreat, led by Lisa, that encouraged practicing yoga, fasting, and drinking only concoctions that would cleanse their bodies. A camera crew had been with the entourage the entire time, intent on producing a documentary about the spiritual and physical awakenings the group experienced. There was also a particular focus on Lisa's interest in numerology, and her belief that every day of the year could be broken down to a number from 1 through 9, with 9 being the day of greatest change. The never-before-seen footage ends when the vehicle the cameraman was traveling in (along with Lisa and six others) swerves off the road and crashes.

Earlier in the film, Lisa spoke of the trials she'd faced in her life, her battle with alcoholism and the media frenzy that ensued when she accidentally burned down the expensive home of boyfriend Andre Rison, football player for the Atlanta Falcons. Regarding the obstacles she'd endured and challenges she had faced, Lisa said, "Every struggle is just a preparation for what's to come." Instantly I knew that I wanted those words tattooed on my body somewhere prominent. And it got me thinking about all the other people in this world who connect so strongly with a word or a phrase that it becomes imperative that they ink the saying permanently on their skin. To quote the lovely Anais Nin: "Before, I almost used to think there was something wrong. Everybody else seemed to have the brakes on. A voice, a phrase was not for them volcanic. I never feel the brakes. I overflow." If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a word must be worth a million stories.

[images courtesy of bmezine]