I’m so glad I never got any tattoos. As soon as I turned 18 I had people asking when I’d get some. There are many who treat them like a rite of passage, as if all adults are supposed to have them. You’d think we were all Maori the way they talked about me getting tattoos at the start of adulthood. I even got told the other day when I said I didn’t want tattoos as I think they’re trashy, “Get one that has meaning to it and it won’t be trashy.” No, if I need to put permanent marks on my skin to remember what’s important to me then please take me to get checked for Alzheimer’s, not a tattoo parlor.
My senior class we ended up with a kid that spent a few years in prison tried as an adult. He turned 21 that August so his last chance to get a h.s. diploma so he could move onto stuff he wanted to do.
He talked about prison and how stupid alot of us were, alienating people didnt have many friends that last year in school. I had 4 classes with the guy. One thing he harped on big was not getting tattoos,
"If you really think you want one dont get it. Put it aside and consider it for a year after a year look back on it. In most cases you'll be glad you didnt get it, if you still want it after that go for it."
the guy hated every tattoo he had gotten, still at the time only people that really had them were in gangs, prison, military
back then tattoo shops were still a rarity, none were in my state and you had to take a few days off to travel make appointments. make phone calls and mail design back and forth to an artist.
we finally got a tattoo parlor when i was about 20, lots of pressure to run out and get something. I ended up camping on designs for over a year. Glad i never got anything.
now today over 20 years later you see people running around looking like a childs coloring book after little johnny got done scribbling in it.
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