History HW #32

Tattoos have become more than a body art. When I see a tattoo on someone I only scratch the surface of the meaning of it by looking at the depiction itself. With closer friends that have tattoos, I feel more comfortable in asking what the tattoos represent and symbolize. Most of them are about a memory of something they did which is ironic because they are still so young and already they have this label on their body that reminds them and brings them back to a memory they had in the "good old days". I find it interesting how regardless of their age and hobbies, all of their tattoos are extremely different. One of them has something written in Sanskrit and the other has a picture of a Croatian flag representing his heritage.
Its interesting how our society views Henna art. Henna is a form of tattoo popular in parts of India and Sri Lanka. The reason it is interesting to me is because a friend of mine really wanted to get a tattoo but her mother would not let her. When she asked her mother for a Henna, which is equally permanent but explained that it was part of the culture in India, her mother said it was no problem. Although often less flamboyant than a tattoo. I was shocked how her mother viewed this Henna as so extremely different than a tattoo. John Fanning explained to us how tattoos used to be looked down on upon society. Still today, tattoos are looked down on a lot. At job interviews for example, people will often be canceled out of the job if they are seen with tattoos.
Tattoos are more than a image, they become a part of us. We take them with us everywhere. As Andy wrote is his post, tattoos " decompose with the rest of us" We take them with us everywhere. Many of us whether old or young see the body as being clean and natural and think that getting a tattoo is rupturing this naturalness and cleanliness where we have no problem with getting our noses redone or piercing parts of our skin. I think that the fact that tattoos were looked down on by society for such a long period of time causes people to get tattoos in places that are rarely seen. But this raises the question of why would someone get a tattoo or image on their body if they personally were embarrassed for it to be be seen by the masses.