Being a blank canvas

Tattoos are getting more and more elaborate and amazing. Artists are making great strives to push the envelope when it comes to tattoos. It only makes sense for tons of people to want to get tattoos. Interestingly enough it wasn't too long ago when tattoos were frowned upon. Tattoos are still frowned upon in most countries outside of western society. Not all of them or course. In fact western society has even appropriated some tattoos from other cultures.

Still for the most part people generally want to make a statement when they get their tattoos. There's usually some sort of meaning or story behind the tattoos that we get. We want to remember the past and having something permanently placed on our skin can often be the best reminders to us of the past.

If anything, today we realize how much we all cherish our own pasts. We see this with how trendy nostalgia is with fashion and the media in general. Living in a herd mentality we will of course see tons more people getting tattoos.

There's also still an air of rebelliousness when it comes to tattoos. This rebellious feeling only means that tattoos are still has an air of stigma here in the west but this stigma seems to be disappearing. With a larger amount of people getting tattoos, this means that there's going to be more senior citizens with tattoos. We are growing up with tattoos so the stigma will slowly diminish.

The question is with all these statements and stories tattooed on people's bodies we're starting to see repetitive trends of tattoos. Statements are being lost with such oversaturation of the same tattoos. Then again a statement is still a statement even when multiple people have the same tattoos. These could be considered herd statements.

How do you make a statement of being original? People can simply copy you later on especially when we live in a social media society. Often we lose sight in who was first to start trends with the exception of tattoo aficionados.

So sometimes I feel like it's better that I don't get any tattoos myself. I don't want people to steal any tattoo ideas from me and I wouldn't want to be known as copying someone else or following trends.

Is this a statement all to itself? This could also just be considered lazy or fearful of making a commitment to do something like this. That could be true as well but in a way I also see it as a statement that I never followed a trend despite the peer pressures that came down my path. It says that I had the courage to stick to my guns. This would only be apparent in the future when I notice that I'm the only one in my generation that doesn't have a tattoo.

I believe in the future people will judge people because they don't have tattoos. It'll sort of be similar to how people judge others for not drinking alcohol or coffee. These are staple drinks in North America that everyone's come to be expected to drink in their everyday lives.

I already hear it today when we all have small talk conversations. I've started hearing questions about what tattoos I have and I'm a little flabbergasted that these questions even come up because only 10 years ago these type of questions were really frowned upon.

In the end, I hope that it is a statement in the future when people realize I don't have any tattoos. I didn't want to fit into the mold and I didn't want to give in to peer pressure.