2011: I got a tattoo in Bangkok for 100THB which was a really good deal. I was in town for the Thai massage course and decided to get inked while I was there. So I shopped around Khao San for the best price till I found this small studio owned by a cool half-Thai, half-Singaporean artist.
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| Me and Valent |
She was very patient with me as I pored through her catalogs, looking for the perfect butterfly tattoo. Yah a bit of a childish choice, I know, but I like butterflies, mainly because they are beautiful. But even more than that, I like the beauty of their metamorphosis. Before a butterfly becomes a butterfly, it's a caterpillar. (Duh..!) That in itself, I think, is one of life's most beautiful miracles. And it's not that much different from our lives as human beings. We continually change and evolve as a person. Change is inevitable. In fact, it is the only constant. Most of the time, we start small, then we build ourselves to become something better.
And so when a caterpillar is ready to pupate, it will hide itself inside a chrysalis, where it undergoes a most remarkable transformation. As it comes time for the butterfly to emerge, it will have to take on a great struggle to get out of the cocoon. That exertion helps strengthen its wings to prepare it for the outside world. If you try to help it by slitting open the cocoon, the butterfly will die because its wings will not be strong enough to fly. So a butterfly carries the symbolism that in order for something beautiful to happen, you've got to be strong and persistent. You don't sit around waiting for help; you gotta do it on your own, you work for it, you endure all the struggle and the pain. Because you can't get a rainbow without a little rain.
"We are all butterflies. The Earth is our chrysalis"
-LeAnn Taylor
