TATOOED!
Every era has parents saying the same thing about their kids. “Where did we go wrong” is one of the most repetitive phrases in human parenting history. In prehistoric times a father that couldn’t get his son to drag a woman by the hair back to the home cavern felt he raised some sort of alien. Imagine the caveman whose son turned out to be a vegetarian and wore fig leafs to rebel. “Put on your loincloth,” the mother said but that only spurred the child to use an even smaller leaf. “What could I have done differently” the father thought to himself and then blamed the wife for allowing the boy to do whatever they wanted no matter how strange it looked. Those crazy kids!
For the last 15 years or more the post baby boomers and x-generation individuals have sought to mark themselves as completely different from those that preceded them. If you thought wearing pants below the waist low enough to qualify for the plumbers union was annoying take a good look around now! Mark themselves they have, literally! Charles Manson might have been the first to attempt carving symbols in ones own forehead. Effectively permanent Chuck but the technique needed a little bit of work. You’d have done us tax payers all a favor if you’d carved all the way through your skull with that knife.
Usually beginning in a pool of teenage angst the defiance of past generations such as the tasty and equally nutritious swallowing goldfish or growing ones hair to the ground has given way to something much heavier. An earring in a guy’s ear 30 years ago was quite a statement and was worn like a badge to communicate “I have arrived!” It was just as silly nevertheless for its time. I could never have imagined what teens do today; carrying the extra 5 pounds of jewelry on my face. These days the worry is about the extra 20 pounds carried around the waist to all of us grown ups.
The propensity to seek attention to oneself has been highlighted by tattoos, piercing, and any number of unnatural avenues to out mutilate the next guy. Today we’re at the “can you top this” place in our evolution. It is exemplified by the requirement among our youngsters to make sure their faces clink and clank when walking down the street. Carrying as much metal as possible by way of piercing is the newest attempt to shock society into noticing its youth. It’s the equivalent to that cave-teen wearing that fig leaf for the first time. It has become quite comical to the casual observer especially when you realize it’s a poison ivy leaf their wearing. If you walk by someone otherwise normal and they clatter like a muffled bell the odds are that the piercings are under their garments. Perhaps the items are being used to make sure their belly button doesn’t fall off. Could be the jewelry is being used to discourage babies from breast feeding. It might also be used in making Woodie heel or to highlight other unmentionable parts. How exciting! There are even clever names for such piercing; though I think Sir Walter Raleigh would not be amused.
Turning the human anatomy into various forms of billboards via such a route screams “look at me. Listen to what I have to say!” While their message may be worthy of listening to the method of display can be motivated by self esteem issues. The human body in its pristine birthday suit form is a masterpiece all in its own. Is there anyone worthy of improving upon such a perfect machine? There is nothing more beautiful to view than the human body especially if it’s somebody else’s other than mine. Doubt the body is beautiful in its natural state? Then how do you account for Playboy Magazine who led the “body is beautiful sexual revolution?” Today there are countless magazines proving the point that nudity is a wonderful thing. However tattoos and piercing will likely keep you out of Playboy.
Placing messages upon a masterpiece might get it noticed but cheapens and even ruins its value. It is like writing on or painting over the Mona Lisa. Whistler’s Mother might get up out of her chair, take the paint brush out of your hand and smack you! Is such behavior as clouding the existing exquisiteness something to be revered by a generation of individuals simply because they had messages worthy of being heard? The art world would think it something different.
The desire from the current generation to become sailors is remarkable. They swear like them, belch like them, act like them, and now have body art upon them for the rest of their life too. The only thing about the seafaring individual is that they will generally tell you at some point what a mistake it was to get a tattoo and how they were drunk at the time trying to drown their sorrows over some true love named Wanda. Mr. Sailor man maybe Wanda would never have left if you let her pierce your winkie! Then the tattooed spend the rest of their life with a half naked woman on their chest and try to explain it over and over to their latest wife.
What looks cool at 16 looks completely different at age 40. I still have the hole in my ear from that one earring that was daring in my day. Thank goodness it’s just the one hole. I’m afraid 25 years from now we’re going to have a generation of senators, congressman and the general population whose face and body parts looks like 10 miles of bad road. Oh where did we go wrong?
I can’t wait to see how my grandchildren defy their parents. I’m sure it will be graphic and something as yet unimagined. Maybe by then we’ll long for the days of wearing pants a foot and a half below the waist. Well that’s practically nude. What could be more beautiful than that masterpiece?
For the last 15 years or more the post baby boomers and x-generation individuals have sought to mark themselves as completely different from those that preceded them. If you thought wearing pants below the waist low enough to qualify for the plumbers union was annoying take a good look around now! Mark themselves they have, literally! Charles Manson might have been the first to attempt carving symbols in ones own forehead. Effectively permanent Chuck but the technique needed a little bit of work. You’d have done us tax payers all a favor if you’d carved all the way through your skull with that knife.
Usually beginning in a pool of teenage angst the defiance of past generations such as the tasty and equally nutritious swallowing goldfish or growing ones hair to the ground has given way to something much heavier. An earring in a guy’s ear 30 years ago was quite a statement and was worn like a badge to communicate “I have arrived!” It was just as silly nevertheless for its time. I could never have imagined what teens do today; carrying the extra 5 pounds of jewelry on my face. These days the worry is about the extra 20 pounds carried around the waist to all of us grown ups.
The propensity to seek attention to oneself has been highlighted by tattoos, piercing, and any number of unnatural avenues to out mutilate the next guy. Today we’re at the “can you top this” place in our evolution. It is exemplified by the requirement among our youngsters to make sure their faces clink and clank when walking down the street. Carrying as much metal as possible by way of piercing is the newest attempt to shock society into noticing its youth. It’s the equivalent to that cave-teen wearing that fig leaf for the first time. It has become quite comical to the casual observer especially when you realize it’s a poison ivy leaf their wearing. If you walk by someone otherwise normal and they clatter like a muffled bell the odds are that the piercings are under their garments. Perhaps the items are being used to make sure their belly button doesn’t fall off. Could be the jewelry is being used to discourage babies from breast feeding. It might also be used in making Woodie heel or to highlight other unmentionable parts. How exciting! There are even clever names for such piercing; though I think Sir Walter Raleigh would not be amused.
Turning the human anatomy into various forms of billboards via such a route screams “look at me. Listen to what I have to say!” While their message may be worthy of listening to the method of display can be motivated by self esteem issues. The human body in its pristine birthday suit form is a masterpiece all in its own. Is there anyone worthy of improving upon such a perfect machine? There is nothing more beautiful to view than the human body especially if it’s somebody else’s other than mine. Doubt the body is beautiful in its natural state? Then how do you account for Playboy Magazine who led the “body is beautiful sexual revolution?” Today there are countless magazines proving the point that nudity is a wonderful thing. However tattoos and piercing will likely keep you out of Playboy.
Placing messages upon a masterpiece might get it noticed but cheapens and even ruins its value. It is like writing on or painting over the Mona Lisa. Whistler’s Mother might get up out of her chair, take the paint brush out of your hand and smack you! Is such behavior as clouding the existing exquisiteness something to be revered by a generation of individuals simply because they had messages worthy of being heard? The art world would think it something different.
The desire from the current generation to become sailors is remarkable. They swear like them, belch like them, act like them, and now have body art upon them for the rest of their life too. The only thing about the seafaring individual is that they will generally tell you at some point what a mistake it was to get a tattoo and how they were drunk at the time trying to drown their sorrows over some true love named Wanda. Mr. Sailor man maybe Wanda would never have left if you let her pierce your winkie! Then the tattooed spend the rest of their life with a half naked woman on their chest and try to explain it over and over to their latest wife.
What looks cool at 16 looks completely different at age 40. I still have the hole in my ear from that one earring that was daring in my day. Thank goodness it’s just the one hole. I’m afraid 25 years from now we’re going to have a generation of senators, congressman and the general population whose face and body parts looks like 10 miles of bad road. Oh where did we go wrong?
I can’t wait to see how my grandchildren defy their parents. I’m sure it will be graphic and something as yet unimagined. Maybe by then we’ll long for the days of wearing pants a foot and a half below the waist. Well that’s practically nude. What could be more beautiful than that masterpiece?
posted by Giosue' Santarelli at 9:40 AM
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