What is with the younger folks and the tattoos?

I have nothing against Tattoo’s, I have 2 myself and Bride has one as well but they mean something to us. I met this younger fellow at work who is probably 22 or 23 and he has a gigantic tattoo on his arm that stuck out below the sleeve of shirt. I asked to see it as I never am ceased to be amazed by the art some people decide to have adorn their human canvas. He shows it to me and tells me it is a “tribal brand”, I thought here is 23 year old white city boy, what possible tribal affiliation could he have. So I ask him what tribe brands their members with that tattoo and his answer stunned me, I dunno. I dunno I thought why would you get a brand that covers all of you arm from elbow to shoulder if you don’t even know what tribe it came from. Being bold I asked what does it mean to you, he says a couple of my friends have them and thought they were cool so they talked him into getting it. I continued, how much did it cost, only to find out it was applied in 8 stages and cost him well over 1000 dollars. A grand and he does not even know the tribe that uses or used that brand, I found that unbelievable.

I would be willing to bet that brand had a very specific meaning to the tribe who used it, I would bet there was an initiation in order to be allowed to have it put on them. Just like jail house or gang tattoo’s or brands, they have a meaning and are not just inked on because their friends thought they were cool. What about bikers, each of their tattoo’s mean something and I assure you they would never tell a story like that about a tattoo that was placed on their canvas, at least none I have ever met. It is almost like the younger generation feel in order to fit in they need a tattoo but they are not sure why and to me that cheapens what a tattoo should be all about. Why is that you might ask, if you don’t have one, it is an artistic expression on the most personal canvas there is. Decisions about what goes onto your personal canvas are not to be left to what others think, you will live with the art for the rest of your life or pay dearly to have it removed. It should mean something to you, something important enough to place it on your canvas and that is not a tribal brand when you do not even know the name of the tribe.

I grew up in a small town in Ohio and flying to Orlando Florida for Navy boot camp and then Chicago for electronics training and then to Norfolk Virginia were all very new experiences for me. My first cruise was a UNITAS cruise around South America and over to the west coast of Africa. Well my little hillbilly ass was in for more surprises than I could even have dreamed of, I was living life and getting to see things that I never dreamed I would see. On that cruise I decided I would get some art applied to my canvas that somehow depicted my embracing life and everything it had to offer. I mean there were all kinds of new things for me to experience, the girlies (a term I used when I was 19), the drink, the foreign customs, the fascination I had talking to Chilean locals about their culture, I was hooked! What was it that would show that I grabbed life and was holding on for life because I did not want to miss a second of it. By the time we got around South America and made it to Brazil I had decided that an eagle screaming through a sunset with his claws out like he was getting ready to snatch up a rabbit was it. That was me, absorbing the new and exciting life.

I got my first ink when I was 19 and I got it in Rio de Janeiro, right out on Copacabana beach in 1985 from a guy who spoke no English and free handed the whole tattoo. Now a days there are a lot of templates that are transferred on and then it is nothing more than filling in, kind like a coloring book and crayola’s. Don’t get me wrong there are some truly special artists out there as well but not all of “graduated with A’s”. A few years later, after a full bird Captain told me I might have a problem with the drinking and I decided I had better loosen up on life or it was going to kill me so I quit drinking, which I am glad I did. Well that signified to me that it was time for more artwork to signify that chapter of my life was over and I was on to the next. It was hard letting go of that lifestyle, full blast at everything I did but I needed to signify that event in a way that was meaningful to me. I decided the next art was going to be a Viking holding up a sword and standing on a skull with the words “live hard” over the top and “die free” meaning I lived my young life hard so I have great stories but then at some point I had to free myself from that and move on. Standing on the skull signified my victory over all of the indiscretions of my foolish youth. Do not misunderstand, I would not change one single piece of the foolishness of my youth, it is what made me who I am and I like who I am.

Does your canvas contain art that has no meaning?