Tattoo, Bar code | WS

For me, a bar code represents that something is generic. Bar codes are used in many systems to keep track and categorize different items. The items are all alike, the failed attempts were disposed of during creation, and only the true copies are left to remain.

For several years I've wanted to obtain a bar code tattoo over my chest. I came into this world with a bar code, even if it isn't present on me; we all do. Middle class, lower class. My parents both had their problems, they started to tell me about them a few years ago. Kind of amazed I'm sitting in a dorm room right now even typing this for a college class. Where would I be if I had been a copy of my parents?

Growing up in a small town that, to me, was like a black hole. People die there. They get old, move there, or they grow up there and just can't make enough impact on the rest of the world and become sucked back in. I again wore this bare code of sorts, I was marked for being a small town kid, from a little high school and little else. Still amazes me to be sitting here like I said. But now, what if I can't make it? Sink back to that black hole? As scary as it sounds, I can feel it pulling on me.

Even today I carry another set of codes that are seen clearly on me. For a long while I was instantly tagged as a typical pot head. Amazing, seeing as when presented with the drug I wouldn't have a clue if it was true or just some grass. People saw me as a certain person the moment they saw me. I had already been categorized even if was done incorrectly.

The bar code, for me, had a dual meaning that in someways contradict each other. For one, it would represent that generalization and assumptions that are placed, printed, on me. Every time I looked to it, think of it, or anything like that I could be reminded that I do not want to live up to their assumptions. I am a person. I am an individual. This would be a constant reminder to myself to be just that, myself, and not be what others might think I should be. On the other side, I accept and acknowledge that I'm very similar to most people. We all breath air, don't we? I walk the same streets anyone else is entitled to walk. Furthermore, I have a belief that everything happens for a reason. The number that would make up the meaning of the bar code would be different numbers making up parts of my birth date, and other numbers that are said to be specific for myself. I enjoy researching horoscopes, and numerology, and other various ideas that pertain to the uncontrolled aspects of your life, such as date of birth and the number of vowels present in your name. For the time being, I know not of what numbers I'd like to compose my tattoo of, but for now, I merely know that I will someday live to betray and portray my bar code. For me, it's almost a ying yang type symbol, only straighter.