A friend of mine has a tattoo of Warner Bros. Tasmanian Devil holding an Italian flag. My friend has an Italian heritage, he was in college and feeling uninhibited when he got it. A silly college act he might say.
My younger sister has a tattoo. It's a large fairy on her lower back. She's only had it a few years and laments every having done so. Her hubby, jl, has a gecko "tat" on his back and has never expressed the same regret that I know of.
Last weekend on the beach in San Diego I saw a very pretty girl. She laid her towel right in front of us and was hard to miss so I took some pics. The tat on her back is religious in nature. On her right and left sides there are others.
I sometimes understand why people get tattoos. My friend's taz devil for instance; in the moment, maybe drinking, camaraderie, whatever. Maybe tattoos are signs and symbols to others. Maybe people identify with a particular symbol, feel some connection to it. Dad's at 18 could have been to demonstrate he was tough. I wonder if he even remembers why he did it. A gang member might do it to show loyalty.
But really, what does a tattoo say? Does it really mean you're loyal? or pious? or tough? I can honestly say I have never seen a tattoo that made me think a person was loyal, pious, or anything really or improved the way a person looked. Not one. And even if a person identifies with a tattoo at a certain age, feels it represents an important piece of who they are and they want to share it, I'd wager forty years or less will do wonders to alter the strength of that identification.
What God gave us is top notch and the little vine tattoos, or butterflies on the ankle, or peace symbols take what looks downright perfect and makes it look, well, like something less.
Now plastic surgery is a different story.
No comments:
Post a Comment