Cockamamies
When I was a kid, there were things inside of bubblegum wrappers that were called cockamamies. They were pictures you could transfer to your body by wetting your skin and pressing and holding the picture for a few seconds and then peeling away the cockamamie. It was an early form of temporary tattoos.
I loved them and affixed them all over my arms. They would fade in a day and easily wash off with soap and water. Which reminds me of a story . . .
Years ago, I was working out next to a younger guy at the gym and noticed his tattoo. I asked him, “What did your mother say when you came home with that?” “She didn’t say anything,” he said, “but my father exclaimed in Italian, ‘Wash it off.'”
I am not yet a fan of permanent tattoos; call me middle-fashioned. Middle because the generation before me was into them and the generation today is as well. My generation, not so much.
I will admit that I am a product of my conditioning regarding tattoos and I will also offer this observation: Getting tattoos doesn’t make you less of a person, but if you think of yourself as less than a person, you are more likely to get a tattoo.
Think of the time frame that most tattoos are gotten – teens to early 20s. This is also the age range that military recruitment and girls wearing excessive makeup is at an all time high, not to mention piercings. Coincidence? Not at all.
When you don’t think a lot of yourself, you make additions. The purpose of the addition is to make you the person who you think you’re not. “The military will make a man out of you” is the enticement of the recruiter. They know you are feeling “less than” and use that as an edge. The same is true for cigarette and makeup manufacturers. They target an age group that’s susceptible.
There is a basketball player for the Miami Heat named Chris Andersen, known as “Birdman.” His picture, above, is from Inked Magazine. He, unintentionally, serves as the “bad boy” role model for young boys who are basketball fans. His personal decoration style will cause some young admirers to emulate his lead. There is nothing that can be done about that nor should there be.
Even though this blogpost reveals my current prejudice about tattooing, it’s more about being cautious as an adult when contemplating additions when you’re feeling “less than.”
The promise is that the addition will make you feel more like you want to feel. The feeling will be temporary; the addition may be permanent.
There is nothing “out there” that will make you “more than.” It’s the feeling on the inside that you seek. When you find it, you’ll want to tattoo it to your soul and never want it to wash away.
All the best,
John
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