Some of you who know me personally will have probably noticed by now that I am supportive of a non-profit organization called To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), and indeed, that is what inspired this tattoo. It's not as simple as that, though, because I wouldn't get a permanent marking on me just because I liked an organization. For instance, I like the World Wildlife Fund as well, but I'm not about to get WWF or a panda tattooed on me. The reason I chose to get "Love" permanently written on my arm is because of just how much TWLOHA means to me and how it has affected my life.
As is usual with me, I don't entirely remember how I came across TWLOHA. I imagine it would be something like I found some reference to it on another website I frequent called deviantART, and I decided to check it out. How ever I found it, I'm glad that I did, because I think it tells a great story and spreads a great message. From their own website, TWLOHA describes itself as "a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery" and their slogan, which can be found on their apparel, accessories, banners, etc. is "Love is the movement." I find that TWLOHA goes beyond this mission statement, however, and sends the message of love and hope to everyone, even if they are not struggling with something as serious as addiction. Everyone has their days where they're just feeling down and crappy and when those come along for me, sometimes I'll come across something, such as the daily quote or a song that being featured, from TWLOHA and feel even just a little bit better.
What I think is really great is the sense of community that TWLOHA creates and encourages. It brings people together in a positive way and they work to support one another through the tough stuff; and even if these people only interact with each other in an online basis, sometimes it just helps to have someone to talk to or to have someone say it will be okay.
One of my personal connections with TWLOHA comes with fighting depression. I'm sure there are many out there who think, "What do young people have to be depressed about?" and this sort of question doesn't sit well with me. Just because we are young doesn't mean that we don't feel depression. People who ask questions like that come across as saying that our feelings are invalid because we couldn't possibly know the trials of life. This is the completely wrong approach to the situation. Instead of trying to invalidate each other by passing off one person's problems as less than another's, we should be coming together to try and make each other feel better. It doesn't matter how "severe" the problem is, the point is that people are hurting. To me, TWLOHA isn't focusing so much on WHAT is making someone depressed or what someone is struggling with, but rather encourages people through those struggles and tries to emphasize that each of us is important and that we matter.
That's one of the biggest beauties of TWLOHA: although it does have its specifics and certainly has a specific incident that spawned its creation, it goes beyond that. Whereas other oraganizations are really specific in what they're supporting or promoting, TWLOHA is broader. Perhaps "love" is a specific as well, but the definition of love is quite broad.
And this is why I have "Love" permanently tattooed on my arm. I fully believe in what TWLOHA is doing and I want to spread the message of love. Perhaps a tattoo is only a small contribution, but I believe that any little bit will help.
Love is the movement.
Hope is real.
Rescue is possible.
More about To Write Love On Her Arms:
http://www.twloha.com/vision/
http://www.twloha.com/vision/story/
I agree, definitely a worthy cause. And love definitely is one of the greatest words in any language. People can mistake many things for love, but it see,s that you certainly know what it is.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Sarah. :)
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