By Judy Reiss
I know that this topic is going to make a lot of people mad, but I just can’t help myself! And here is the questions, why do young people want to desecrate their bodies with tattoos? Now before you tear up the newspaper, let me ask you a couple more questions. I know that it is a painful way to put pictures on your body and I also know that it isn’t cheap! If you have the extra cash I have no objections to spending money that you have earned yourself to get a tattoo. However. I do think that if you have children and a family that your first priority is to them and I don’t see how you can spend money that has been given to you to get a tattoo rather than food for the table and clothes for the backs of your loved ones.
And here is my other question, before you slap down your money and get a wonderful picture on your body, do you think how that tattoo will look when you are 70? Well, let me tell you. I don’t care how buff you are today and how wonderful your tattoo looks right now, when you are 70, your tattoo doesn’t even resemble the tattoo you got when you were 18, 25, or even 35. Nope what you have is a tattoo that has lost most of its color and worse, your skin has loosened from the bone and now hangs down in a long string that doesn’t look anything like what it used to be. You know how you and your young family members snicker at the “turkey waddle” that your elders carry under their chins? Well, think about having that same kind of skin on your other body parts but yours will have faded and grotesquely misshapen pictures on them too!
I am sure that many of you think that I am down on tattoos because none of my loved ones have them. However, you would be wrong. One of my daughter has a very small dragonfly on her ankle and she loves it. I’m not sure how much loose skin will distort that tattoo but probably not too much. I also have a step-grandson who has a whole arm tattooed with a gorgeous old three masted schooner and just below it, a diver coming up from the depths! Fortunately, now he is amazingly fit and both tattoos are amazing. Will they fade and sag? Probably, but I am sure he doesn’t care what I think.
When I was growing up, the only people who had tattoos were sailors who got them when they were in the service. And many of them were sorry that they had gotten them. Back then, once you got them, you were stuck and the idea that you could get the removed wasn’t available. Now I have a young friend who got a tattoo on her lower back when she graduated from high school. It was attractive and very nice. Then she got a job with a very well known company and she decided to get her tattoo removed. I know that it cost her a fortune, it hurt and she never was able to get it all taken off. She is absolutely gorgeous but on her lower back you can still see something like a smudge!
I am trying very hard to be fair about the tattoo issue. And I still think that if you can afford one, and you’ve thought about the ramifications of getting one, go ahead. But it is probably a good idea to realize that many regular people and many people who hire other people don’t like tattoos and will not hire you if they can see them!
Although it isn’t fair, many elderly citizens still believe that only crooks or bad people have tattoos. And why do they think that way? Well, back when they were growing up and then raising their children, that is who had tattoos. And it is very difficult for the elderly population to try and understand all the things that are changing and need them to change too and even enjoy themselves. Try and be understanding about their feelings and understanding about tattoos! And rest assured that I won’t be getting one. My skin has already begun to droop, badly, and a tattoo would be horrific!