A few days while searching for a new book on the infamous Khao San road in Bangkok, Thailand, I happened to witness two inebriated men verbally taunt each other and proceed to duke it out MMA style. After the one drunkard turned fighter unleashed a wicked round house kick to the other contender's jaw, both men proceeded to take each other down and spraw on the mat, I mean macadam. Needless to say, it wasn't before long that one courageous onlooker managed to step in and act as a referee and break up the foul play.
Although the one seemed to walk away with just a few cuts, the other did not seem to fare so well. Walking away from the virtual ring and the curious crowd he was standing just a few feet beside me. I noticed his nose and lip were bleeding. Mumbling some slurred words in drunken gibberish to a Thai person, it was obvious that he was not in the right state of mind. Tempted to ask him for help, I wasn't even sure if he was aware of what just happened. Glancing up and down the pitiful fighter's body I was about to turn my eyes away until they caught hold of a freshly inked tattoo on his right rib cage. It read "Live life to the fullest" in an old English script. Although I obviously felt sorry for the man, I couldn't help but chuckle because he was living life to his fullest at least in his mind.
Despite the gnashed scrapes now etched on his blond hair and blue eyed face and the unknown cause of the confrontation, he was traveling in a foreign country and was not afraid to be spontaneous which says a lot considering many are afraid to leave their own house and go to the next county or city. Although I do not have much respect for fighters and those who express anger in negative ways, I do applaud those who take the time to experience another culture and immerse themselves in a different world.
Whether tattoos have become an over commercialized mainstream trend that have lost their age old rite of passage symbology, I have noticed that more and more people are getting inked to remind them of what they should do or remember whether it is for the good or for the bad. There was an obvious reason why he had chosen those specific words to be on his skin for the rest of his life. Now, If only he had another one that read "Mind Your P's and Q's."
Although the one seemed to walk away with just a few cuts, the other did not seem to fare so well. Walking away from the virtual ring and the curious crowd he was standing just a few feet beside me. I noticed his nose and lip were bleeding. Mumbling some slurred words in drunken gibberish to a Thai person, it was obvious that he was not in the right state of mind. Tempted to ask him for help, I wasn't even sure if he was aware of what just happened. Glancing up and down the pitiful fighter's body I was about to turn my eyes away until they caught hold of a freshly inked tattoo on his right rib cage. It read "Live life to the fullest" in an old English script. Although I obviously felt sorry for the man, I couldn't help but chuckle because he was living life to his fullest at least in his mind.
Despite the gnashed scrapes now etched on his blond hair and blue eyed face and the unknown cause of the confrontation, he was traveling in a foreign country and was not afraid to be spontaneous which says a lot considering many are afraid to leave their own house and go to the next county or city. Although I do not have much respect for fighters and those who express anger in negative ways, I do applaud those who take the time to experience another culture and immerse themselves in a different world.
Whether tattoos have become an over commercialized mainstream trend that have lost their age old rite of passage symbology, I have noticed that more and more people are getting inked to remind them of what they should do or remember whether it is for the good or for the bad. There was an obvious reason why he had chosen those specific words to be on his skin for the rest of his life. Now, If only he had another one that read "Mind Your P's and Q's."
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