As you can see, this tattoo is simply the letters that spell out "Paradise," representing the paradise of those dreams we want to materialize. You can see that the paragraph preceding it simply says "when," but I know that this means much more than that. When I got this tattoo, I initially wanted the word "paradise" tattooed on one of my left limbs, but I didn't know where. I already have a tattoo on my left arm, and I also have several tattoos on the same leg , but I decided to do it above the knee, which for me would be like a representation of the firm steps we take to build our path. Since I am not a person who believes in heaven as religion has taught us, nor in hell as the Bible says, I feel that I am a little more down-to-earth, not to say realistic, since past situations have shown me that hell is real here on earth when we are trapped in our minds and in an environment of malice, violence, and insecurity. But what influences this the most is the way we think. I have been trapped in mental crises of depression and anxiety. I have also suffered racism, classism, and countless injustices for being Venezuelan for almost a few years now, living in another country. But I also firmly believe in heaven, in the heaven we build for ourselves in this life, since I have also experienced this feeling, and for me, heaven is that peace and harmony filled with love in our home as we raise our children and have the respect of the woman we love. Unfortunately, I lost all of this, and I say lost because today I am the one who feels empty, even though at that time everything that happened was because I did not tolerate disrespect from another person, specifically my partner, who is the mother of my children. Due to my actions, she made the decision to leave without telling me where she was going, much less telling me that she was leaving and taking my daughters with her. Today, much of this relationship has healed. I can't say that we are friends, but we maintain a relationship where we can communicate, especially for the well-being of our daughters.
That is why the word "paradise" is tattooed on this part of my leg because I know what paradise is, and I plan to build my paradise again. Soon, I plan to get a tattoo that represents a little more of that hell I came out of, and that is why tattoos often represent what we think and feel.
Here I can finally share the tattoo on the lower part of my left leg. I got this tattoo about 15 years ago and never finished it because it was done with a homemade machine and I wasn't really happy with some of the lines, so I decided to stop the work, which was done by my friend, whom I consider a brother, who is currently in the tattoo business and has done most of my tattoos.
And finally, the tattoo on my right leg says "original hustler" because here in Venezuela we have to fight every day to get something to eat, since the $2 salary doesn't really help us much.
This is the whole story I can tell you now briefly about my tattoo. I hope to share much more work and anecdotes about teaching and learning with everyone in the community soon. Best regards to all, I hope to read you soon.
Images taien different days with a Redmi9A, edition of collage on EPIK app for Android.
