Tell Stories Tattoo

I remember it like it was yesterday. Walking through the red light district of Amsterdam, getting the sense that it more like an aquarium for humans than anything else.

I saw a tattoo shop that, on the surface, one would think was dodgey but inside it was clean as a brand new car.

Touring the city that night there was no plan to spend any money, but something called to me.

For many years the quote of my favourite author, Philip Pullman sat with me.

“Tell them stories. They need the truth... You must tell them true stories, and everything will be well, everything. Just tell them stories.”

Since reading The Northern Lights as a kid I held onto this. The idea that everything is a story. 

Suddenly, in the middle of the red light district I decided that was it.

Of course the whole quote is long but I thought “Tell Stories” was fitting. Not just self-instructional but also as a reminder that everything will be okay. Even when things aren’t looking good, telling stories  makes everything better.

The touch of home in the same font of Lord of the Rings certainly turned it from two words into a word picture that, when I look at it, I can hear Enya, Riders of Rohan, and Concerning Hobbits.

I’ll always remember Amsterdam as the place where memories became inked on my skin permanently. 

Fitting as one of the most profound storytellers lived in a house just around the corner, belonging to a young Jewish girl by the name of Anne Frank.