Lent: What I did instead

Okay, okay, so I AM feeling a little lame and selfish for the "giving something up" garbage that I have made of Lent this year. See previous post for an update on that.

Sooooo, I estimate I would have used about $35 worth of pharmaceuticals and/or alcohol today based on the day that I have had and the loneliness and fear that I am feeling at the moment. I spent one minute thinking about the pills I have stashed to my right and the full wine rack towering behind me. After that minute, I then spent exactly $35 on a donation to Amnesty International USA, you know, that little human rights group that I spend a lot of time and brain space on.

Now I need your opinion. I have just the most UNIMAGINABLE craving to get a tattoo of the Amnesty International symbol on the palm of my right hand. This is the logo, but I would only get the candle and barbed wire tattooed, in black.

I get the sense that some family members and friends would be ashamed of me if I had this, even though I explained that it would measure no larger than an inch, and it would look like to most people that I had simply forgotten milk at the grocery store and decided to scribble it on my hand.
Also, as I just read in 37 days, which inspired me to make the $35 donation, "This is more about your action than about their reaction anyway. As is most of life."
Then why get it?
Because, as you know...I get a little lost at times and if I need a reason to stand up a little straighter and stop thinking about my own damn self once in a while, all I have to do is look at my hand. My right hand. The one that I would use to shake yours. The one that I would hold up if I ever had to swear to God before any sort of judging body. The hand that I would use to give you anything, if you needed it.
Because THAT is who I am.