Marked for life

Are tattoos really the best way to express oneself?

They started out as the trademark symbol of biker gangs, the permanence of the marking being a metaphor that members were in for life. But now, one of the first questions thrown out when getting to know someone is, “do you have any tattoos?”

I don’t understand the appeal. Maybe I’m a rarity, but my interests change quite frequently, so I think I’d begin to regret getting a tattoo within a year of its completion. I also feel that if I were supposed to have something permanent on my body, I’d have been given a birthmark.

When getting a tattoo, the machine uses a needle that pierces your skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute to inject the ink. Umm … OUCH. I’ve heard many people say it’s a cathartic release, but I don’t understand. Then again, I pass out at the sight of needles, so that may be why.

It is pretty interesting that the ink is deposited in the second layer of the skin, so when you see a person’s tattoo, you’re seeing it through the top layer, but not cool enough to make them all that appealing.

Don’t get me wrong, tattoos can be tasteful. For example, in my family, my eldest brother donated a kidney to our middle brother when he went into renal failure several years ago. Jason (the recipient of the kidney) designed a tattoo for Tristan that stated, “the only gift is a portion of thyself.” Everyone in our family really likes that because it commemorates the event in such a permanent way. I also think that tattoos can be tasteful when a loved one passes unexpectedly and you get their name or the dates of their life on your body. It shows that not a day goes by that you don’t think about them.

However, any time you see someone in a bathing suit these days, they seem to have one that’s just some sort of illustration. If you like a certain type of art wouldn’t it make more sense to hang a print on your wall? Maybe that’s too logical.

I haven’t even mentioned how expensive they are. Depending on how big a design you choose it can run hundreds of dollars to find a quality tattoo artist. My brother got really into tattoos in the last few years, and he has more than I can count—work clothes can barely contain them anymore. One day he came home so excited about one he got on vacation. He showed my other brother a saying that read, “we aquire the strength to overcome.” No, that’s not a typo. It was misspelled. He had to go back for three months to get it covered up. More time, money and pain I’d ever want to put into something as trivial as tattoos.

Can someone please explain to me what possesses one to want these gaudy eyesores? Also what makes you believe that that Japanese koi fish on your bicep will be a good idea when you’re 80, because I can’t imagine you’ll be happy with it then? Help, I want to understand since they’re so commonplace.