Tattoo Mystique

06/12/09

There is an aura about a tattoo, private to the owner, and maybe baffling to those without one. Just why a person would paint their body is as varied as the patterns of ink gun imprints. The mystique lies in the permanency of that ink.

Tattoos are meant to communicate, but mostly to the wearer than the observer. The message works it way through your skin, even if the wearer cannot see it. Henna, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and billboards are for fads and the cause d’jour. Tattoos are forever.

Not all tattoos conjure warm thoughts. If you are contemplating one, here is my advice:
Never refer to a living person. Angelina Jolie learned the hard way about that rule.
Be sober and solitary. Tattoo orgies are dangerous affairs.
Don’t use a tattoo to vent a grotesque fetish, vendetta, or political cause.
Sayings in English, Oriental, Arabic, Hebrew, or any other foreign language have a way of being either passé or will be misinterpreted by someone.
Religious symbols remain, faiths change.
Tattoos feel like sunburn. Start small. Big sunburns can really hurt. Don’t let the process scare you.
Make sure the tattoo is important to you.

Now go and get one.