This redneck's standing on tattoos

I'm prepared to face a bit of backlash over this because opinions on this vary quite a lot with the youth of today apparently being very much in favor of permanently marking their bodies with art. I guess I don't really have any problem with this because if there is anything that should be considered definitely your property it would be your own body. Personally, I just really don't like them and especially not on women. Perhaps this is chauvinistic of me but honestly, I don't really care. It is my personal preference and opinion that most tattoos make someone's body look worse, not better, but then again I might be showing my age here.

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When I was in my 20's it was really rare for me to meet people whose bodies were covered with tattoos. It was something that was mostly an anomaly and the people that I did meet that were like that normally had some sort of quirky way that they lived the rest of their lives as well. I remember being friends with a portly fellow who became one of my good friends and is someone I still speak to today. One of his tattoos that was featured prominently on his shoulder was an Ace of Spades so I asked him if he was an avid poker player or enjoyed some sort of card games a LOT. I mean enough to get a card permanently written on their body. I would make sense to me - sort of - if he was an avid poker player or something like that but it turns out he barely knows the rules of any card game and this was just his homage to one of his favorite metal songs.

I reflect on this and find this particular tattoo decision to be profoundly stupid. I like that song as well but enough to have it written on my body? Nah!

He had another tattoo of a Pit Bull on his arm and I knew that he had a Pit Bull and seemed like he was really devoted to loving the breed so I asked him if the tattoo was one of his dogs and it wasn't... just some random Pit Bull that he chose out of a catalogue that they had in a tattoo parlor. Again, I find this profoundly stupid.

He had "Only God can Judge Me" written across his back in big letters but I knew this person quite well, he was not religious, I question if he had ever been to church. I didn't ask but based on the way that he lived his life I'm certain he was not religious. It was just a statement and again, I found this to be profoundly stupid.

When I look at some of the collections of tattoos that some people have on their bodies, like the one in the picture above, I guess I can appreciate the fact that it is an ongoing massive work of art of sorts and that takes a lot of dedication. I "suppose" I can appreciate it but it just wasn't for me.

There are guys I know that were in the military that have tattoos relating to their unit and this I can understand, especially if they were in active duty and suffered casualties. I can understand why someone would want to remember that forever. I also know people who have lost a loved one to unfortunate circumstances and they have something to remember that son, daughter, mother, or father by etched on their bodies and I guess I can identify with this.

Here's one thing though: I know extremely few people that are covered in tattoos that are greatly successful in life.. In fact, I only know one. He has also been extremely careful to ensure that none of his tats are visible if he puts on a dress shirt and trousers or a suit. I have a lot of respect for this guy because even though he definitely enjoys the art, he realizes that there are certain prejudices that come along with being covered in tattoos.

The only reason why I am bringing this up is because a friend of mine has a daughter who is in her second year of college and he was really distressed because she came back home to visit over the summer and had a rather large tattoo on her neck that she will never be able to cover up. He pretended to be cool with it because what are you going to do? but I can see that he is extremely disappointed in her.

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This is not my friend's daughter, this is a copyright-free image I pulled down from unsplash. Thankfully, my friend's daughter didn't get the tattoo extending onto her face as well.

Am I just getting old? Because I was in my 20's not that long ago. It's not like I grew up in the 40's and 50's. To me it was rare for someone I knew to have a tattoo at all, let alone be covered by them. These days it seems like it is really unusual for a younger person to NOT have tattoos. I joke and say "not having tattoos is the new tattoo." We didn't know anyone that had a tattoo on their face back then and when Mike Tyson came out and got something tribal on his own face I think basically everyone thought that was really dumb.... now it seems like this is becoming quite normal. The "popular" thing among women when I was in college was to get the infamous "tramp stamp" and of the women I know that did that back in the day all of them regret it. This was like the "beginner's tattoo" back in the 90's and for most of the women I know, it was the only one they ever got. It quickly became so common that it was kind of blasé to have one, the way that belly-button piercings have kind of just become the norm for women these days. I know a few younger women that got angel wings tattooed on their backs and now that also has become so common that it just seems like the Wal-Mart of tattoos. This is why I think that if you are going to get a tattoo, it should be something that is personal and only applicable to you. Sure your tramp stamp or angel wings might have looked awesome when you were the only one that had them but then after tens of thousands of people get the exact same thing done, it's kind of dumb, dont you think?

I'm quite pleased that I never got any tattoos and for the most part the men and women my age don't have very many if they have any at all. I guess this is just one of the attributes of the youth of today that I have a really difficult time identifying with.

If you do have tattoos please understand that I am not judging you. People can do what they want. I'm just pointing out that things certainly have changed a lot in the past 25 years or so. Then again, I suppose every generation has looked at the next one and said "what is wrong with those people?"