I posted this comment over on BlogHer today, and I decided to share it here as well. I know, I know.. that's cheating. But other than the fact that I just mowed the back yard for Jack's birthday celebration tomorrow and am currently waiting for the sweat to dry before I take a long, hot shower... well, I have a house to clean, presents to wrap, a cake to bake, and kids to feed. SO this will have to do....
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Tattoos are an ancient tradition, a rite of passage in many cultures. I think that, in the US especially, we sometimes struggle to identify "what is my culture" - especially as it gets swallowed up in Wal-Marts and McDonalds as far as the eye can see. Most of us have lost touch with our ancestral roots and the countries of our familial origins. I think that this goes a long way towards explaining why, even though corporate, social, and religious groups put a high premium on fitting a certain mold, many of us put a higher value on our individuality. We attempt to create a "culture of the self".
I actually posted a while ago about my tattoo. I got it when I was 22, before marriage and my two kids. I have very strong feelings about my OWN tattoo, and because it is somewhere discreet people are always surprised to learn I have one after they get to know me. It is symbolic of a life lesson I learned at the time, and continues to be a reminder of where I have been and where I am going.
I'm planning to get a second tattoo after my second baby boy is weaned (sometime the end of this year) and am currently busy designing it.
As a child of devoutly Mormon parents, it was several years before I was able to talk to my mother about it. Once I explained the meaning behind it, I think she was better able to accept that it was something meaningful to me and a positive force in my life, rather than a simple childish act of rebellion. She still doesn't like it, but at least she seems to have come to terms with it.
I'm tentatively planning to get the next one on my ankle, where it will be somewhat more visible to the general public. This one will be no less meaningful and symbolic for me personally, and I am looking forward to the whole experience again.
I plan to go back and finish Nursing School once I'm done with this babymaking business, and I know there will be patients who may have pre-judgments about me based on something like a tattoo. The challenge (and a positive one, as I see it) is that it is then my goal to help people learn to reassess their value-judgments. If I am the best nurse I can be, and give the most compassionate and capable care -- how many people, at the end of the day, are going to REALLY care that I happen to have permanent ink?
2 comments:
They are so very common these days that I never really consider them anymore. I'm more concerned about hiring someone with lip piercings that could be dangerous . Tattoos don't bother me so much.
Mine is now 14 years old and I don't regret it at all.
Great piece. The identity issue adds an interesting dimension to this hot topic.
I would have SO gotten one -- if I weren't so damn scared of needles. Plus? I hear you need to be sober. And alcohol is the only way to get my courage up for something like that! :-)
I can't wait to hear about the next one!
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