Tattoo You?

As time goes by there is a burning question that keeps crossing my mind that needs answering. So I'm turning to you for the correct answer. Because quite frankly...I don't know.

It's no secret that tattoos have become all the rage over the past twenty years or so. Seems everyone is getting some form of ink on their body somewhere, and some over and over again. This is a topic that I have discussed with my wife, my closest friends, (some who have inked up,) and some not. It's also come up with my partner Sue Wilson on the morning show a time or two, and even some show callers have chimed in. Although we all seem to have our own questions, I have kept mine quiet until now.

Mine isn't what I would get, where, or what color. My question is..."How do you know if you're cool enough to get one in the first place?" I mean does the tattoo make the man? : Or does the man make the tattoo? When is it really cool, or when does look like you're trying too hard? Conversely, does it ever look like you're trying too hard? This is important stuff here!

When you're in your 20's or so, it's no big deal. They get inked up all the time, and no one thinks a thing of it. In fact the more the merrier! And with each pass of the vibrating needle, you get cooler and cooler. Then as you age, the barbed wire that was around your bicep is now a bracelet, but that's the way the tattoo tumbles I guess.

But for those starting later, how do you know that it's for you? I have friends who at a later age have driven down the pigmentation superhighway, and they look great! They pull it off. But how did they know that it would be great beforehand? It's an altering thing. Before you decide to get an dragon fighting a snake permanently displayed on your body, you better hope that it doesn't come out looking like Curious George on stilts. But I guess that's the gamble you take.

Sometimes I think I'd like to have a barbed wire around my arm, or something on my leg. But I wonder in the back of my mind, would people say, "Hey that's great!" Or would I leave a trail of co-workers doubled up in laughter on the floor of the west hallway after I exited to another room? I've never had that kind of belly laugh over someones new tattoo. In fact, just the opposite! I always think they look great. But wouldn't you hate to be the one guy that does turn everyone into a pack of cackling jackals?

Maybe you could get it in writing beforehand. "Look, I'm getting a bull snorting fire on my leg on Friday, and you've got to promise not to laugh on Monday, or any other day...sign here!" Yea..lots of luck there. How do you know?

I guess you don't. I guess in the end, getting a tattoo is just a leap of faith, and that all will be fine in the end. And if you do make your co-workers and friends wet their pants with laughter for a short while, that too will pass and everything will return to normal.

Oh, and by the way. If you do have Curious George tattooed on you somewhere, I apologize no harm, no foul. I just hope it wasn't supposed to be a dragon instead!