Though the idea of getting a semicolon tattooed on your wrist may appeal to grammar nuts out there, the reason many people are doing it has absolutely nothing to do with punctuation.
Arguably the most misused punctuation mark, the semicolon's function is to link two sentences while keeping them distinct. Yet thanks to a social media campaign, it's become so much more.
This past April, Project Semicolon appropriated the semicolon as a symbol of hope and mental health awareness.
"A semicolon represents a sentence that the author could have ended, but chose not to," says the Project website. "That author is you and the sentence is your life."
The Project encouraged those who have been affected by depression, anxiety, as well as those who have self-harmed or tried to commit suicide, to ink the semicolon on to their wrists. If you check the stats, that's an awful lot of people. (In 2013 alone, every 12 or so minutes someone committed suicide.)
That's around the time that Colleen Duffy got her own semicolon. The 24-year-old grad student from Pennsylvania lost a friend in high school, and experienced her own period of depression and anxiety. The tattoo fit, so to speak.
Two years on, Duffy has no regrets because every time someone asks about her semicolon is an opportunity to talk openly and frankly about the suffering that so often goes on behind closed doors.
No disrespect to all the cute butterflies and flowers out there, yet looking down at your wrist and having that indelible reminder of what you went through - and the fact that every day you're consciously choosing to continue your 'sentence' - is a powerful and subtle symbol. One that is vital for people for whom mental health is an ongoing struggle.
Now you know.
Image Source: Instagram
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