HW 32 - Tattoos & The Presentation of the Self

No one in my family has a tattoo and i am most certainly not allowed to get one while i am living here. I kind of want one but i was never sure of what to get, i wanted something that i designed but was drawn much better then i had drawn, and kind of has a shock value to it. Regardless of the fact that i wanted it to be cool, i thought that it would be cool to have something that stood out. Its cool to be different. Everyone once and a while i think about cool designs that would be and consider what it would like, but i remember that when i am 80 (if i live until then) i would still have that tattoo.

I know people who have tattoos that mean nothing to them, and others that are Chinese lettering that say dragon or strength (allegedly). They think they look cool and regardless of how much of a tool they are for it, they still do it for their own reason. Mostly to be cool, but regardless. Yes i think it is beyond idiotic for someone to get a tattoo just to be cool, i think it would be smarter if they got it because it meant something to them. Partially because i really don't like tribal tattoos, and because it is an extension of their personality that people don't have to know you to see, so it should make a good first impression. I don't think asshole is the first thing they want people to think about them when they seem them, so why get something that represents that? Just my thoughts

When John Fanning, our principal came in and started talking about his tattoos it was really interesting how he viewed them as a mix of his own personal feelings and as his ticket to fit in. He got them so he would feel like he joined a "tribe." I really liked that because it was a blunt statement of the truth and i really liked how he understood how he did it to be not only a bad ass, but fit in as a bad ass. Sometimes you have to do things that are taboo to some to be accepted by others.

In complete honesty i think that a tattoo is something that can very well exhibit some sort of message that someone believes in. It can represent their own thoughts, beliefs or religion. If it means something to them then i think that it is okay that they do it. If i ever have something that i believe in enough then i will get a tattoo of it but until i think i will stick to not having one because i don't need it. I think they are cool and they are worth "piercing my skin" for. I have friends who have tattoos and they have them that represent different things. They aren't there for catching attention, they are there for their own personal knowledge that they have them and that they are representing them. I don't think i would have a problem having something i really liked represented on my skin, but i would have to be okay with it years later. Those are just my thoughts though.