Discussions

When I was growing up, well a teenager, Tattoos were only seen on Sailors or Ladies of ill repute. If one of the apprentices who worked with me got drunk one Saturday night and sobered up sporting a Tattoo every one at the factory would ask, “How could you be such an idiot?” or “How does it feel to desecrate the temple of your body like that?  
 
It was not too long ago that people sporting a Tattoo were pigeonholed into categories just for wearing indelible body paint. For wearing this form of body decoration you could be called a Rebel, a Drifter, Nonconformist, or possibly a Biker/Sailor/Felon, or just plain dumb.  
 
The human race has been defacing our hides with indelible substances for a long time. Anthropologists have traced the custom back to 12,000 B.C. Maoris did it, Polynesians did it, Africans, Inuit, and Asians did it, and they still are doing it.  
 
I drive by the Tattoo Parlour’s in Brandon and see their signs, “Tattoo’s $100 per hour,” and I wonder why do we do it? Is it for approval? Do we want to fit in?  
 
Down through the ages, Tattoo’s have been denounced and even banned by Jews, Muslims, and Pope Adrian 1. They are not all that hot a draw with “have-nots” either. Tattoo’s are a bit like “Body building” the only people who are remotely impressed are folks who share the affliction.  
 
So why are we getting Tattoo’s in record numbers? I don’t know, you tell me. Why do we start smoking? Why do we break the speed limit? Why does Donald Trump wear his hair like that?  
 
We all know the questions non-tat people ask, were you drunk when you did it? Answer, no. Did it hurt? Will you ever want it removed? Do you realise that to remove it you have to hire a team of dermatologists to sand, burn, freeze, or chip away at it?  
 
It has been said that a Tattoo is a poor man’s ‘Cat of Arms’: some one else said it sure beat a business card.  
Tattoos have not always been a moronic male affection if you believe the limerick, Tattoo’s can be co-educational and rife with social significance. Here’s the Limerick:  
 
On the chest of a barmaid at Sale  
Were Tattooed the prices of ale  
And on her behind  
For the sake of the blind  
Was the same information in Braille?  
 
Source: Arthur, Arthur, by Arthur Black.