Know the pain, Appreciate it

I keep feeling that I'm missing something. That there's some part of me that's not there yet. I've never tasted desperate. I've never had to deal with with the dirt and the grime. I've grown up with comfort and security and love. I haven't had to fight with the fear and the pain and the hardness of people's hearts. Yet, I feel that I should, that there's something to gain from having to go through this, that in some way it will help to shape me into the person whom I want to be.

There's a part of me that wonders why I haven't had to cope with this type of life. Why have I been blessed so? Is it simply arrogance on my part that I feel is if I could thrive if I was in that type of environment? Despite this, I feel as if I know or rather that I could know. It's not that I feel that I can relate to people who have had to go through this, it's, more so, that I feel that I do relate to them, that I have some kind of connection with them.

I have often attempted to put words to the reason why I have this design etched permanently in ink on me. It's as though I know that it is right, but I can't quite voice why. I can't quite make someone understand why I care for tattoos in general and why I care a great deal about my own. The reason is not solely because of it's mere look. That is part of it, but the greater part is, most certainly, what it says and the fact that it is shared. Furthermore it was him that asked to get them together and that never ceases to please me. There's something about tattoos in that they are forever, or at least they should be forever. They seem to say that no matter what happens, this will still be who I am, this will always be what I hold dear and what I believe and nothing can change that. Even if I am forced down in this world, I shall not be broken.

These two seemingly separate ideas, that of tasting desperate and tattoos, somehow coincide in my mind. I am having difficulty phrasing this, but there is some truth in that having a tattoo further enables me to understand. People, often time, look down on those who are covered with these permanent markings. Yet, this should not be.