you are born into a sign. a plethora of signs, actually, that await you on the day of your birth. culture after culture has tried to figure people out in regards to how the day of their birth aligns them with the world around them, with elements, with stars, with other people. astrologically i'm a virgo. according to the chinese zodiac i'm a monkey. a metal monkey.
according to the somewhat believable probability of it all, i am very intelligent and have a very clever wit. because of my extraordinary nature and magnetic personality, i am always well-liked. i, however, as a monkey, must guard against being an opportunist and distrustful of other people. my sign promises success in any field i try. <!--more (click here to continue reading this post)-->
it is still intriguing to me that we as people want to relate so badly to the idea that there is something more to life, that there are signs and paths and predictions and fate and promise and purpose and possibility. it's intriguing to me because i enjoy the ability and the desire to ask questions, to seek truth and reason, i feel bad for those who subscribe to one defined meaning, to one god, to one church, and fail to accept the notion that just maybe there is something else at work.
people born in the year of the monkey are the erratic geniuses of the cycle. clever, skillful, and flexible, they are remarkably inventive and original and can solve the most difficult problems with ease. there are few fields in which monkey people wouldn't be successful but they have a disconcerting habit of being too agreeable. they want to do things now, and if they cannot get started immediately, they become discouraged and sometimes leave their projects. although good at making decisions, they tend to look down on others. having common sense, monkey people have a deep desire for knowledge and have excellent memories. monkey people are strong willed but their anger cools quickly.
i have had several zodiac-related conversations recently, for a multitude of reasons. searching for answers, maybe. looking for approval from some other source, perhaps. seeking evidence that we are in fact on the right track. be it our addiction to television shows like lost, our intrigue with coincidences, or our undeniable quest for meaning, whatever it is, it's there and we talk about it.
i find it true that throughout my life there have always been clues, always been hints of what was and what would be. signs in numbers, in words, in music, in things that go unnoticed until they all of a sudden acquire purpose.
when i found myself sitting in a tattoo parlor with steve and tom, way back when, i knew what tattoo i really wanted but it was too big and too expensive, and so i debated for hours. we talked about all the tattoos i used to want. the significance of things past. numbers that used to mean something. finally i decided on the chinese symbol for monkey. and so i make the most irreversible decision of my life so far, to be branded, to be inked, to mark myself with a symbol. so it is written, and so it shall be done.
the tattoo story ultimately leads to one of those, do-you-believe-in-coincidence endings. i have told it a lot. and i will tell it again. but i'm cutting it short here.
according to wikipedia; the name "monkey" may come from a german version of the reynard the fox fable, published in around 1580. in this version of the fable, a character named moneke is the son of martin the ape. the word moneke may have been derived from the italian monna, which means "a female ape". the name moneke persisted over time likely due to the popularity of reynard the fox.
a group of monkeys may be referred to as a mission of monkeys or a tribe of monkeys.