Ink City

I took a trip to the “Big City” today. Actually, I’d like to call it Babylon. I realize that I am very sheltered on my small farm in my small town but I mean, really? I feel as if I visited another planet! Even my husband, who goes out among the natives every day was feeling it.
The first thing we noticed was the number of people sporting tattoos. And not just cute little tattoos. We are talking about whole arms, chests, backs or legs being covered with multiple markings. We estimated 80% of the shoppers were inked. We even saw a small baby with an arm tattoo. We are hoping it was fake but both parents were covered so what are the chances? Does anyone know if that’s even legal?
Now, I don’t have a thing against tattoos themselves although I’m not sure they are healthy. I also know what they look like when bodies age. It does concern me, however, that they are permanent and fads are not. What shocked me was the sheer number and size of them. The tattoo trend started out with the desire to be “different” as most fads do. And just as most trends it has ended up with everyone looking the same.
I have seen a few large tattoos that are works of art. One young man I saw once had the characters from “Lord of the Rings” entwined together on his arm. It was beautiful. I would have loved to see it on a canvas rather than an arm.
But most people don’t have a natural sense of style. So many of the markings I saw today looked cluttered and too busy. It was hard to know what to look at- the tats drew attention from the clothing being worn and definitely from the person sporting them.
It is hard to notice a beautiful face or body or hair or eyes when a dozen or more tattoos are clamoring for attention! And what happens when the tattoo craze is over? A whole generation is marked for life.
It all reminded me of a Dr.Suess book I used to read to my children. There were some creatures with star shaped belly buttons and some without. Those with the stars thought they were better than those without. Of course, those without were miserable.
Along came a clever person who had invented a machine that could make star belly buttons. Happy day!! All the no star bellies paid him to get new star bellies. That made the star bellies mad. They paid him to have theirs removed. Then the others had theirs removed. Then they all paid to have them put back on again. This went on for days until they were all broke and nobody could remember what their original belly buttons looked like.
The only winner in this story was the man with the machine. Oh, yeah, I have seen a billboard offering laser tattoo removals. Uncanny, don’t you think? I guess good old Dr.Suess knew what he was talking about. I wonder how much money is going to be spent getting inked and then getting uninked? Way too much I’m sure!
That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?