Oh, goody, look at that. It’s Monday again. Happy, happy, joy, joy (a little old-school reference thrown in there, raise your hand if you’re too young to get it…okay, put ‘em down, you’re making me feel old). Again, nothing against Monday as a day, I just hate having my weekend end because it never feels quite long enough. Isn’t there a holiday coming up or something? No? Bummer.
So I fell off the proverbial wagon last week, and missed a couple blog posts. And last night’s post was hardly up to par. But it was the best I could do, considering the environment in which I found myself. Dinner was eaten late because the kids napped too late in the day, and because the hubby insisted on watching the first two episodes of Dexter while the kids were asleep. It’s a good show, don’t get me wrong, but there are a million productive things I could have done during those two hours other than watch television. And then the kids were grouchy and tired, and so was the hub, so I was dealing with that, too.
But I digress (get used to it). Manic Monday posts are a place for me to rant if I want to, and today, I want to. It’s not a mega-rant, just a little one based on some stuff I’ve seen online recently. I cruise Yahoo occasionally for random bits of news and entertainment “news”, and have happened upon two separate articles in the last two weeks discussing the trend of mothers in Hollywood getting tattoos. The articles don’t bother me a bit; they’re fluff, and seem to be supportive of these stars getting inked. What gets under my skin (pun totally intended) is the rude comments made by some other readers of these same articles.
People can be so hateful and disrespectful when their identities are concealed by avatars and fake personal information. It’s really a sad thing to see in this country. But it really pisses me off when these mean-spirited, close-minded commentators start going on and on about the kind of “trashy” people that get tattoos. And I take their insults personally, because I have two tattoos currently, and hope to get several more, and I don’t for a second consider myself a trashy person. I don’t think anyone that knows me would consider me trashy, either.
There’s a very distinct difference between someone who gets tattoos because they commemorate something or have a true meaning to that person, and someone who gets a tattoo “because everyone else has one”. Both of my tattoos mean something to me, and I believe that’s the way it should be. I’m not going to say that someone who gets a tattoo on the spur of the moment is trashy, because that’s not a fair assessment of their character. They may be a truly nice and compassionate person; I just think they probably made a bad decision. Aren’t we all guilty of that at some point in our lives?
Here comes your history lesson for the week:
Tattoos have been around as long as mankind has used tools. For thousands of years, tattoos have served as “amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment”, according to researchers at the Smithsonian. Tattoos can be dated back to 5,200 BC. That’s a long freakin’ time. Archaeologists have found tattooing tools used in ancient Egypt, and mummies with tattoos. In Egypt, women were tattooed to protect them during pregnancy and childbirth. As reported by ancient Greek writer Herodotus, "tattoos were a mark of nobility, and not to have them was testimony of low birth” among the Scythian and Thracian peoples, two lands near Greece. Tattoos were common among Romans, as well, until Constantine came to power and made Christianity the officially accepted religion of the country. Tattoos have also been found on preserved bodies of ancient South Americans, American Indians, and Canadians. So it wasn’t relegated just to Europe and surrounding areas.
Tattooing has also been popular in China, Japan, Polynesia, and New Zealand for literally thousands of years. The word tattoo actually comes from the Polynesian word “tattau”, which means “to hit”, a description of how their tattooing process works. So pretty much every inhabited continent on this earth has a long history of its people receiving tattoos. Which means every person alive today has tattoos somewhere in their family tree.
With that said, anyone who starts talking about how “trashy” tattoos are needs to grow up, get a life, and read a little effing history. Tattoos don’t make people trashy; trashy people sometimes get tattoos. How dare you lump me in with people simply because we both made the decision to get permanent marks on our skin. I’m a mother of two with a great job at an engineering company, working in an office every day. And most people around me don’t know that I even have tattoos. And that’s my choice. My tattoos are for me, not for the world. I don’t mind sharing them, and I love that I have them, but I know that for what I want to do with my life, there’s a time and a place to show them off.
And it doesn’t bother me that my kids know I have tattoos. My tattoos have meaning to me, and my kids will understand that when they’re old enough. And if they come to me (after they’re 18, of course) and want me to go with them when they get their first tattoo, I’ll feel honored that they included me. I’ll coach them on taking time to decide what they want on their bodies (if they want anything; I certainly won’t pressure them into getting any tattoos…unmarked skin is just fine, too), because whatever they pick becomes a permanent part of them. But I won’t discourage them from getting inked, any more than I’ll encourage them to do so. Getting a tattoo is a personal choice, and everyone should get to make that choice for themselves.
So yeah, it makes me angry when I read some ignorant comment about how low-class and trashy tattoos are, and that people who get them are trashy and low-class, too. Tattoos are an ancient and beautiful form of self-expression, and anyone who doesn't get that can kiss my tattooed ass.
(these are my two current tattoos; and no, I don't actually have a tattoo on my ass, thanks for asking)
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