What a Semicolon on Your Body REALLY Means

06 Jul, 2015 by McGuire

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Webster’s Dictionary defines a semicolon as follows:

sem·i·co·lon
ˈsemēˌkōlən,ˈsemīˌkōlən/
noun
a punctuation mark (;) indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.

Project Semicolon, founded by Amy Bluel, has a unique and different mission behind what we typically think of when we use or hear a semicolon. You may have seen them pop up on your Tumblr, Instagram and other social media outlets, and wondered why exactly folks are doing this – and here is the inspiring reason:

According to the Huffington Post, in 2013, Bluel tragically lost her father to suicide. She wanted to honor her father as well as raise awareness for mental health issues.

So she founded a non-profit organization named Project Semicolon. The goal of the project is to restore hope and confidence in people who are troubled by addiction, depression, self-harm, and suicide.

The non-profit encourages these people to draw or tattoo a semicolon on their wrist.

The semicolon symbolizes that the difficulties they face are not the end but a new beginning.

The symbolism of the semicolon is explained on Project Semicolon’s website,

“A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.”

By encouraging people to share their marks and stories, Project Semicolon seeks to instill hope and open up a dialogue about mental health.

I am not one for tattoos, but I do think that if you’re going to get one, this is one hell of a good reason to. It has a good message, and it can be a reminder that you are not alone. Well done, Project Semicolon, well done.

“My story isn’t over yet;”

Written by Katie McGuire. Follow Katie on Twitter @GOPKatie, or email the author at [email protected]