Let me say off the top that I have no idea what my reaction will be if a dear one of mine comes home newly inked. I'd like to think I'd handle it with grace, acceptance, and calm. Yeah, right. But my questions is not so much 'How could you DO THAT?" Rather, I'm asking "Why?" Even putting aside the pain (and let's be straight--it hurts!), and ignoring the cost ($50-$75 an hours? Wow, I chose the wrong career), what makes a person decide to take the tattoo plunge?
Right now, my oldest speaks of permanently declaring her love for her adored summer camp on her ankle for all the world to see. OK, not my favorite idea, but it could be worse, right? A friend's college-age son came home with quite the artistic rendering on his calf, depicting his natural passion for snow-capped peaks. His consequences were pretty dire. My nephew recently made a lifetime witness of his belief in the Lord, right across his shoulder blades. Quite the piece of art. Is Philippians somehow more socially acceptable than Harley Davidson? One young acquaintance, in the interest of family peace, is saving to have her newly acquired brand removed. Heck, even my mother-in-law saw the need to have her eyelids tattooed with lifetime liner.
I've heard interviewers say tattoos can make or break a candidate's chances for employment, visible body art being a distraction in the workplace. Honestly, if your staff is that easily distracted, I'm thinking a bit of Ritalin in the water cooler might be in order. But I can also see where two candidates of equal, or perhaps not even equal, skills might be treated differently if one has an inky snake coiling up his neck. A friend pointed out to me that the very people getting the tattoos today will be the folks doing the hiring in15 years. Will it all even out?
Tattoos were once linked to bikers, sailors, fighters, guys who wanted to show they were tough, wild, outside the boundaries. In more recent years, tats have become a more mainstream expression of, what? Personality? Maybe. But that little butterfly on your breast which looks perfectly cute on a 36C, may lose some impact after gravity makes it a 42long. Later in life, will that permanent sentiment still hold the meaning for you that it did when it was applied? I'm all for showing creativity, but unless you wield the ink gun you are nothing more than a canvas for someone else's talent. Do people find them sexy? Endearing? Profound? I can't find any of those qualities in the Dale Earnhardt memorial I saw recently on a bicep in Louisville. In 60 years, will nursing homes be filled with Octogenarians displaying unidentifiable blobs of ink?
I come to no conclusion. I don't think I'll run out and celebrate my upcoming birthday by having a basket "tramp stamped" on my lower back. But hey, if that's what trips your trigger, who am I to judge? I can't even declare a winner in the tattoo debate when I'm my own opponent!
No comments:
Post a Comment