I hook and I'm proud.

I hook and I'm proud.
Against the advisement of local suspension crews, I choose to speak on how society and the media in general views "us", in quotations because as we feel like a family, we all have a very personal reason for going through this process in our personal and spiritual lives.
The generalization of why becomes the downfall on local levels, it defeats the point of gathering to celebrate life, which is why we undergo this process in some manner of the term.
Legislation can only do so much to control our lives, and this infringes on too many levels to be allowed any more. I may be shunned from my own local organization, just for talking publicly about our lifestyle. It is my conscious choice to speak out against the tyranny of the press and small town mentality; which stands heavily on the same amendments we weigh heavily on.
So why do we appose individuals that support the same rights we hold dear? Because we don't understand them. While we speak and seek truth with one cheek, we judge and accuse with the other.
I will not name nor associate myself with any local or national groups that undergo the process of suspension, or pain rituals, yet I've toured the country to support these groups. If I must stand alone, I will. We have the right to seek enlightenment through these means. I'm Indian by blood and this was part of my heritage, yet who am I to question why anyone else would choose this life?
Take away this right, take away the right to smoke in public(wait, they did). What's next? Think you're safe? Because your life choice seems "under the radar"? Why should they stop there? One right at a time, that's how it all started. The process repeats itself. Smoke, pierce, tattoo, live life. Skydiving is incredibly dangerous, yet there has never been a court that has questioned our freedom to drop from the sky and depend on a thin layer of fabric to save us. We are different, but so are you, such is life. Small things make us different, they also make us beautiful.