TINY
TATOO
Once upon a time there was a short guy named Tommy. He tried to get into the Army, but he wasn’t
accepted, He was too short. He tried the
Navy, no luck as well. Likewise the Air Force and the Coast Guard. Nope.
All through grammar school and high school the Military
Service was his hope. It was his dream. No luck. Tough – especially because he was
picked on all through his grammar school and high school days for being so
short. Too short – too picked on – too often.
What to do with his life? He didn’t know.
One hot summer day – sitting on a bus in Cincinnati, Ohio –
22 years of age – it hit him – what he was to do with his life. He looked at the left hand of the person
sitting right next to him on that bus.
The guy had this really neat tattoo – on his left hand. It was of a blue bird –
a beautiful blue bird.
“Wow,” Tommy said to
the guy next to him. “That’s a neat tattoo.”
The guy – his name was Albert – said, “Thanks!” Then Albert added
another “Thanks” and said, “Sometimes people make nasty comments about my bird tattoo
– but I like it. Glad you do, too. Thanks again.”
Tommy thought about that moment – and it led to the rest of
his life. He did the research and found a Tattoo School in New Orleans – one of
the best in the United States. In 6
months he was an apprentice – and in two years he had his own place. He chose
Chicago – lots of people – lots of people who had a high percentage of tattoos.
And in 10 years he became one of best tattoo artists in the
United States tattoo world - doing all kinds of tattoos.
Tommy – because he was short – also came up with a unique
tattoo – and this is how he really became famous. Little People – especially Little
People - from all over the United States flew to Chicago to get his special tattoo. They saw it mentioned in Tattoo Magazines. I
bet you didn’t know there are 2 main tattoo mags. There are also 4 Little People’s
Magazines
The tattoo – you’re not going to believe this – I didn’t
think it was true at first either – but this special tattoo was mostly words – and
a tiny tree with a tiny blue bird - and you’re also not going to believe where
people got this tattoo – or only where Tommy would tattoo it: on the bottom of
a person’s left foot big toe. He picked the left foot because he got his idea
of becoming a tattoo artist having met Albert on that Cincinnati bus – with his
tattoo of a blue bird on his left hand.
The words he would tattoo on the bottom of big toes were
words he came up with from his favorite character in the Bible – Zacchaeus –
the patron saint of small people. The words were: “Remember Zacchaeus – shorter
– smarter – than all the rest. He climbed a tree and he saw Jesus best.”
In the magazine articles about Tommy - people read about
Tommy’s instructions to the short people who came to get this tattoo. Whenever someone starts making fun or making
comments about your smallness, sit them down. Take off your left sock and your left
shoe and tell them to read what they see on the bottom of your left big toe.”
Then say, “Luke 19:1-10”. Then
Tommy added: “Guarantee: they’ll never
forget what they saw and they’ll never pick on short people again.”
