Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Meaning of KOI


Humans swim through the 'ocean of suffering' without fear !

Click to enlarge
In the Buddhist Religion, The Koi represents Courage


To this day, I have yet to see anything more unattractive than the older woman who’s path crossed mine one summer afternoon.
It was hot and humid and I was just walking into the grocery store minding my own business, when suddenly a woman walked right next to me as we headed for the shopping carts.
This woman in her late 50’s or early 60’s, she was not unattractive and she was certainly friendly with a nice smile.
She wore nice denim peddle pushers and a pressed, white short sleeve blouse.
Then suddenly, only ten inches away from me, there they were, in my face, I couldn't believe it…..her bare arms !
She had more than several of tattoo’s on her arms, and then as she walked in front of me into the store I glanced at her ankles.
Still, there were more tattoo’s.

I wondered, did she see the same crepe skin, the same faded tattoo’s in the same way I did when she dressed on this morning.
In my youth I was wild, ( we all seem to think we were wild ) and I did everything that I had an interest in doing, but I never felt compelled to put something permanent on my body, like ink. And what ever I did, certainly, all these years later, you would never know by looking at me.

As I watched her when she was walking away, with her body cartoons , the sayings and the once vivid ink on her arms, it felt weird and sad to me. And I began to wonder........
Just then, I heard some guy chuckle and say to his pal;
“Now, I bet she has some wild story’s to tell !”.
I wonder if when she is wearing an evening gown ( she lives in Boca, ofcourse she does ! ),
or her peddle pushers, the pressed white short sleeved blouse, if she feels stuck with all that ink ?

In the beginning, when we first went for the grocery carts, and I saw her tattoo’s, it felt like a scene in a movie, and she was ‘the tattooed lady, with a colorful past’ character.

And 'I was the lady who had made mistakes and had regrets,' ( we all do ) . But my character and her body wasn't as colorful or inked up telling my story for me.
And so.....
Humans swim through the 'ocean of suffering' without fear !

Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design