The Why Question

I was having lunch with family a few days ago. At the table straight ahead of me a man sat down with an evil-looking face tattooed on the back of his bald head. I have lived in India for many years, and I immediately recognized that familiar face. Thousands of trucks in India have that painted on the differential as a superstitious way to ward off accidents.

With that face staring at me. I kid you not, I felt physically nauseated for a moment.

THE WHY QUESTION

As that quickly passed, I asked myself “Why would he do that?”

For cosmetic reasons? Was it a belief that somehow that tattoo enhances his appearance?

Or was it a drunken, spur-of-the-moment decision that movies like Hangover Part II tell us can happen. How drunk would you have to be, and for how long, to get a tattoo that size on your head?

Was it a part of a spiritual ritual? A contract with the devil? Was he imprinting the face of an intimate aquaintance on his body?

Was it simply his individuality showing through, a signature that says, “This is who I am?” Was it like Julia Roberts smile or San Francisco Giant closer Brian Wilson’s beard, or my feeling most “myself” in jeans and a t-shirt?

Maybe it was none of these. Maybe the tattoo was really cool, but I am just an old fogey stuck in the past?

Or did the face communicate his inner landscape? Maybe his experience of life culminates in that tattoo.

Last night at a coffee house I heard a girl read a poem. It expressed her inner landscape. The moving verses were of her growing up, and revealed the pain of being abused by her mother’s husband and her mom seeming not to care. “Why didn’t you help me?” It encapsulated her life experience and ended triumphantly with her tearful declaration, “I forgive you. I love you.”

If that leering tattooed face was an expression of a man’s inner life, then what was the emotion it expressed? Anger? Fear? Intimidation? Rebellion? Loneliness? The look of the face seemed to rule out the more positive emotions like hope.

I wanted to talk to the man. Just wanted to be kind and loving to him in some way, but I didn’t get a chance.

So… why the tattoo?

I’d have to get to know him to find that out.

"The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.”
Lamentations 3:19-22 (New Living Translation)