Interesting thoughts. I have family members with tattoos and have accepted that they are pleased with their choices. Personally I would not get one, just because I just don't like them. Years ago I met a young lady, covered with tattoos, my first reaction was, "she must be a biker" or in a gang. Neither was true, she was a delightful normal everyday person. For whatever reason she thought covering herself with ink was flattering. I disagree. While I've come to "like" the looks of tattoos, I don't understand why people get multiples that you can't even figure out what the picture is. In closing it seems years ago we thought inks were a sign of "evil" people now are proving that thought wrong.
Great thoughts here! And you’ve really highlighted one of the things I was trying to thread the needle with here: tattoos, while not objectively “evil” as the connotation sometimes is, definitely help shape the way individuals perceive us. This changes as culture changes, but it still must be a factor in our decision making process. Thanks for sharing!
This topic is surprisingly more relevant in traditional communities than it used to be, I think. Conservative Catholics in particular seem to sway between thinking a tattoo is "based" or utterly pagan. When I was at college, a lot of pretty traditional students who visited the holy land got a cross tattoo in the way of the crusaders (originally intended to identify your slain body as the remains of a Christian in case you were mutilated). And then there are figures ranging from Fr. Mike Schmitz to Matt Walsh who seem to approve the practice with the same kinds of reservations you have.
It did take me aback how relevant it was in those circles. I think, with so many things, people have an already established opinion on the matter, with maybe a few exceptions to their opinion (such as the holy land tattoo), but don’t think too much about the coherence of the overall position. Either way, tatoos often come with baggage, and we must remember not to see ourselves as the isolated autonomous entities without regard to our impacts on others.
Agreed, I will say I've seldom, if ever, run across a logical rational regarding the whole thing. It's like the Harry Potter controversy in the Catholic world, everyone has an opinion and no one's really thought about it.
Interesting thoughts. I have family members with tattoos and have accepted that they are pleased with their choices. Personally I would not get one, just because I just don't like them. Years ago I met a young lady, covered with tattoos, my first reaction was, "she must be a biker" or in a gang. Neither was true, she was a delightful normal everyday person. For whatever reason she thought covering herself with ink was flattering. I disagree. While I've come to "like" the looks of tattoos, I don't understand why people get multiples that you can't even figure out what the picture is. In closing it seems years ago we thought inks were a sign of "evil" people now are proving that thought wrong.
Great thoughts here! And you’ve really highlighted one of the things I was trying to thread the needle with here: tattoos, while not objectively “evil” as the connotation sometimes is, definitely help shape the way individuals perceive us. This changes as culture changes, but it still must be a factor in our decision making process. Thanks for sharing!
This topic is surprisingly more relevant in traditional communities than it used to be, I think. Conservative Catholics in particular seem to sway between thinking a tattoo is "based" or utterly pagan. When I was at college, a lot of pretty traditional students who visited the holy land got a cross tattoo in the way of the crusaders (originally intended to identify your slain body as the remains of a Christian in case you were mutilated). And then there are figures ranging from Fr. Mike Schmitz to Matt Walsh who seem to approve the practice with the same kinds of reservations you have.
It did take me aback how relevant it was in those circles. I think, with so many things, people have an already established opinion on the matter, with maybe a few exceptions to their opinion (such as the holy land tattoo), but don’t think too much about the coherence of the overall position. Either way, tatoos often come with baggage, and we must remember not to see ourselves as the isolated autonomous entities without regard to our impacts on others.
Agreed, I will say I've seldom, if ever, run across a logical rational regarding the whole thing. It's like the Harry Potter controversy in the Catholic world, everyone has an opinion and no one's really thought about it.
Agreed! Well put.