THE STORY OF MY TATTOO

“Esse quam videri” is a Latin phrase that means “to be, rather than to seem”. To me, this saying is a little deeper- I understand and interpret it more as the difference between sight and vision. Having lost my eyesight for a period of time (and thankfully regaining some of it) at the age of 14, I learned some very valuable lessons about this difference. It’s so easy and so convenient to just see things at face value- to look with our eyes and believe what is in front of us, and to not fight the heavy reliance we have on that. It is not easy, however, to look through things. To close our eyes and think deeply about not only what is physically visible, but what more we can see of someone’s heart, perspectives, intentions, and more. Eyesight cannot see meaning, it cannot see dreams and aspirations, it cannot evaluate the importance of our behavior and relationships in the long run. That is vision. As a reminder through hard times, when it becomes easy to complain and allow my visual disability to taint the hope and drive I hold for myself in my heart, I get this tattoo of this proverbial saying in my mother’s handwriting. My mother who, through every hardship and heartbreak and breakdown I’ve had, has never stopped believing I could defeat all of the odds against me. Sight is a beautiful gift, however it is not guaranteed. Vision, and choosing to not see things carelessly and simply, is even more beautiful. I can only attribute my perseverance to my amazing family who never ceased to lift me in dark (no pun intended) times.

jungkookfortunekookies:

I miss jungkook’s vlives where he used to eat snacks, talk about his recent interests, share his new favorite songs, sing along with his background music, make random nochu sounds, sigh in a breathy voice before scrolling through his Playlist and reading the comments while lowkey faking a sob every now and then because he wished he understood english just to reply to us.