My Tattoo

I turned 30 this year, so weird.  For my 30th birthday, my wife bought me my first tattoo, shown in the photo above.  It has turned out so much better than I ever could have anticipated.  After giving much contemplation to what I wanted the design to involve, I went in for my consult with the artist and simply told him that I wanted a polar bear walking along a rocky beach with waves lapping up on the shore and a mountain in the background.  This is what he came up with, better than I could have anticipated.

I've developed a fascination for polar bears over the last few years.  I've asked this question of new people I've met many times: "Who do you think would win in a fight, a polar bear or a mountain lion?"  If you're sitting there thinking at all about the question, you've already failed.  Obviously the polar bear would win, every time.  Polar bears are some bad-ass motherfuckers.

While I've always been fascinated by polar bears, and really all types of wildlife, the polar bear took on a more prominent role in my life a few years ago when my friend Tara was in Oxford studying abroad for a year.  She was having a tough time and I was trying to be a good friend by making her laugh and helping her to remember that life does not always have to be that serious.  I really don't know how it happened, but one way or another I came out of that conversation with the nickname "Kojack the polar bear".  That came to represent something in my life, the type of friend that I wanted to be.

As I began to think more about the polar bear over the years, it began to take on new meanings for me. Polar bears are survivors.  They face incredible odds and one way or another they continue to discover ways to adapt and overcome.  I definitely want to do more research on this but based on what I know, they are an animal that does not give up easily.

This tattoo, more than anything, is a reminder of strength and perseverance in the face of adversity.  There are a few burn marks covered by the tattoo but one prominent one left visible as a reminder.  No matter how difficult things become, no matter how impossible the circumstances, there is a way to adapt and overcome.  I will survive, in the immortal words of Presidents of the United States of America.

I'm Kojack the fucking polar bear.