Daddy
Has A Nosering
I suppose it's a perfectly
valid question: why would
any rational human being with
a fully-functioning nose willingly
choose to use a large needle
to put an extra hole in it?
And why would this individual
then exacerbate the issue
by placing a metal ring through
the opening?
All
I can say is that it seemed
like a good idea at the time.
I
know I didn't get my nose
pierced just so people could
keep asking me "What
happens when you have a cold?"
(Nothing happens, okay? Your
nose runs, your head hurts
- that's all. The nose ring
is not like a cardboard stick
in a cotton candy vat - things
flow just fine, thank
you.)
I'm
also sure I didn't do it so
I could have touching family
moments like this: my four
year old daughter is standing
next to me, her favorite dolly
in her arms. "Look Daddy!"
she says, pointing to a green
star she's affixed to her
doll's nose. "Gigi has
a nose ring too!"
Maybe
my nose piercing is the manifestation
of some unresolved rebellion
from my angst-ridden teenage
years. Except that my teenage
years weren't really all that
angst-ridden. Okay, I wasn't
allowed to have long hair,
but unlike the singer of a
certain band that rhymes with
"Creed" I don't
believe that my parents' insistence
that I keep my hair short
when I was 16 necessarily
constitutes a trauma worthy
of "Behind The Music."
And really, as a self-employed
singer/songwriter, what do
I have to rebel against anyway?
Perhaps
I got the nose ring because
I feel compelled to uphold
a certain image. Watch MTV
for five minutes and you realize
that rock and roll is still
supposed to be anti-establishment
- or at least the image of
anti-establishment as portrayed
by millionaires backed by
multi-national business conglomerates.
And sure, my five earrings
may have been edgy back in
1993, but these days ear piercing
and tattoos are as common
as cheeseburger hats at a
Jimmy Buffett concert. I personally
know an accountant with earrings,
a mechanical engineer with
hair longer than mine, and
a businessman with a chili
tattoo. Even my dad has an
earring. Frankly if I didn't
get another piercing people
might start mistaking me for
a CPA or something.
In
the end, however, getting
my nose pierced is about personal
expression. There's no deeper
meaning, no underlying rebellion
- it's just something that
I wanted to do. And while
my daughter may be one of
the only children in town
whose daddy has a nose ring,
I hope it helps to make her
open-minded and more comfortable
with her own free-spiritedness.
In the end I don't care if
she grows up to be a musician
or a doctor, as long as she
approaches life with an eternal
optimism, dreams without limits,
and believes that all things
are possible.
Maybe
that's why I'm smiling when
she then holds up her favorite
doll and say "Do you
think we can give Gigi dreadlocks
too?"
This
column © 2003 Lee Totten.
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