That's a little misleading. I don't have a tattoo. All that's certain is that I want to get one and this is the one I want to get:



I know what you're thinking. How? Because I'm fucking psychic. This is you: "Gee, Red, That looks cool but--" and then I'm like "What does it all mean? If you shut up for like ten seconds I'll tell you." Then you'd say: "WHOA! How'd you guess what I was gonna say?" and I'd say: "I just told you, fool. I'm fucking PSYCHIC."

But I digress.

August 6th, 1945 was the day the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (The Japanese kanji represents “Hiroshima”). August 6th, 1991 was my birthday, and the 46th anniversary of the bombing.

“So...”, you say, “What made you want to get this tattoo in the first place?” it started out like this:

Not too long ago, I overheard a conversation where a guy mention that he was born on August 6th, the same day as the Hiroshima bombing. My birthday is on August 6th, too, and it never occurred to me that my birthday and the Hiroshima bombings were synonymous with the same date. I decided then and there that I wanted a tattoo to commemorate the event. After hitting up some websites, I found an artist who cooked up the awesome design that you see above. I loved it so much that I've decided to get it grafted onto my skin.

I've been asked by several people, "Why would you want commemorate such a thing?" I've thought long and hard and I still can't think of answer that would satisfy anyone who asked. In the end, that doesn't matter, anyway. I get that not everyone will understand or approve of this tattoo and that's not important anyway. What's important is that I'm happy with the artwork I'm getting, and I am. I will say this: I'm not getting this tat because I have some sick, unhealthy obsession with war or because I like it when innocents die or whatever stupid explanation people will come up with so that they can justify judging me. When the A-bomb was dropped, the course of history changed forever. Humanity lost its innocents that day, and that day is and always will be remembered as August 6th, the same day as my birthday. It's a irremovable mark that will stick with that date forever, and in a way, since I share that date, it sort of becomes a part of me and I'm just the kind of person to embrace this weird sort of thing.

The tattoo represents a number of things: A memorial for those lost in the explosion, a reminder of mankind's true destructive nature, etc. I'll be turning 18 this year so I hope to get it on my birthday, which will also mark the 64th anniversary of the bombing. Things have a way of working out like that.