Tattoo of the Tattoo

 We had noticed the past few years the practice of very young people getting just meaningless tattoos all over their arms. Soon it spread to legs. My tattoo artist and I discussed this when I was getting more work done after my cancer recovery. 

When I got tribal Irish tattoos in the 90s they meant something very important: they were about the death of my mother; the idea of lives being intertwined and the old Irish spirals signifying return and reincarnation. 

"Kids today" said "Beth" Grampaa Simpson just get tatts of garbage all over their selves. My genius tattoo artist, Daemon Rowanchild, agreed with me. The tattoos young people were getting had no meaning or spiritual significance, and often were strange comic book drawings and insignificant symbols that seemed just some random "oh that looks cool" doodling on a page: like I did when I was 12. Do I want that marked on me for my entire life? 12 year girl doodles?

In Portugal the tattoo thing has gone beyond the pale, so to speak, but only on young English people. 

They tattoo their arms, legs, shoulders and now all over their faces with wall to wall tatts with god knows what: random designs from India divorced from spiritual meaning; lions of Africa all over white girls and then non-stop cartoons of Scooby Doo characters and strange gruesome imaginary of hanging bodies chock' a block. 

Catherine who is not tattooed is profoundly disturbed by this and keeps saying over and over that the fad will be gone and then there will be all these old sagging people who will be dealing with faded tattoos.

My concern isn't the sagging, it's what is on their body that can't be removed except at great pain and cost and what memories will just hang there and linger.

Getting older my tattoos have faded some and my arm flesh does now sag a bit: but "what the hell" I tell myself. I have survived breast cancer and I am 61 and I am still here. 

O' tempores O' mores!

 I guess in 30 years today's kids will reckon with their own sagging arm flesh and their own legacy, whatever that may be.