Cell No.5

I caught sight of his tattoo when we were eating lunch one day. I asked him what it signified and he began telling me (almost casually) a bit about his past. This was when it dawned upon me just how many respected resistance fighters were in our midst everyday in my workplace. They are now my colleagues but before the UN came they were independence fighters who were jailed for their struggle for their country's sovereignty. The tattoo signified the solidarity of the 7 prisoners who were kept in the same cell for 12 months from February 1998. The rays emitting represented the 7, while the dots in the centre was their Cell No.5 and the cross atop, a symbol of their innocence. He told me how they had tattooed each other in the cell, using a needle and a candle. Someone held his hand steady while another held his shoulders to prevent him from squirming away in pain. Then a third person had lit the candle, and used the needle to puncture the design into his skin. And then mixing the soot and blood, the tattoo was forever burned into his hand. Was it painful? Did he cry? Yes, he said. It was painful as H*** but no, never, he never cried.
After all, surely this pain cannot compare to the heartbreak of losing friends and families in a 24-year struggle.