Me, terrified...Last week I got my second tattoo. It's a phrase on my left rib cage: "Valar Dohaeris / Valar Morghulis." It's from George R. R. Martin's series A Game of Thrones, a series I have fallen in love with. The quote means, "All men must serve/ All men must die." Weird quote, right?
Well, I love it. In the series, you first hear "Valar morghulis" when a character, Arya, is starting her new life. Later you learn the meaning. I was struck by the blatant truth of the quote: all men must die. That's it. It doesn't matter what you do with you life, who you are; you will die.
The process begins
Later you learn that the phrase is actually a call-response phrase and is also used as a greeting. One party (generally the more authoritative party) says, "Valar morghulis." The second party (sometimes a more subservient type) responds with, "Valar dohaeris." One of the first times you hear this is when Arya arrives at her destination. The people who brought her there, a ship captain and his son, have gone out of their way to see her safe and comfortable passage; although she doesn't fully realize it, she has marked herself as a person who will one day be dangerous. (And no, I will not say any more to make this clearer because I don't want to spoil it!) They want her to remember them and remember them in a favorable light. They, who have given her a safe journey when they first denied her due to lack of funds, say the "all men must serve" part; she responds. This intrigued me on two levels: First, the fact that in this world, people understand that their life may be forfit at any time and that they have some small power to influence others. People there recognize that others have power over their lives and what they do may cause another to harm them, or help them.
Secondly, again the obvious truth was undeniable. We must all die, but before we do we must serve; we must give of ourselves. We cannot just go through life seeking pleasure and only thinking of ourselves. That's no way to live. I agree with this concept completely because it aligns with how I live my life. Sure, I may not be giving all my spare time to a soup kitchen, but I do go out of my way to help others. Admitedly, I'm a people pleaser. More importantly, I want to be nice to most people. I don't know what's going on in their lives, and perhaps my kindness, my service, will make their day a little better.
The finished product!
The other reason I got this tattoo now was for Michael although I have been saving for it for a few months and was planning on it regardless. It just happened that Michael's death and my phrase go together. He lived a life of service, love, and compassion that was recognized by all who knew him. In the end, as one friend of his said, "God needed a godly man in Heaven." Despite the fact the Michael had a terrible disease that took him from us much to soon, Michael remained the loving, caring man he had always been. He made sure that those important to him knew he loved them. Even though Michael is gone, he will forever be with me. At some point, hopefully within a year, I'm going to add a luna moth of the design which will be for Michael (that's a story for another post).
