Today's Bizarro is brought to you by The Garfield Admiration Society of Greater Muncie.The idea behind this cartoon was to show what would happen if kids could get tattoos. I'm not certain I did the best job of conveying the idea, but it was the best I could come up with.
People without tattoos frequently assume that people with them will one day regret their choice, as this guy obviously would, having gotten a Garfield tattoo as a kid. I think that is more true of people who get a single tattoo on a whim, especially when they are young. Or anyone who lets a bad artist attack them with a needle.
But those of us with numerous tattoos choose it as a lifestyle and simply accept it, knowing full well it can never be changed. You might regret the way a certain one turned out exactly, or wish something had been done a little differently, but those thoughts are minor and fleeting, the way one's dislike of the shape of ones toes might be.
I often hear people joking about how tattoos might look cool when you're young, but what will you look like in the old folks home? So many people under 40 have tattoos now that it won't be an oddity in their old age. I'm guessing wherever I end up, we'll be making fun of the geezer who doesn't have any droopy, indistinguishable tattoos.
If you're thinking of getting a tattoo, common wisdom dictates that you choose the image and tape it on your bathroom mirror for six months. If you still like it after seeing it a few times a day for half a year, you're likely to be okay with it as a tattoo.
Or, better still, drug someone and have him/her tattooed with your chosen design. Put it on their back so they don't know it's there. Remain friends with them for a couple of years and visit the beach with them often, so you can get regular glimpses of the ink. If you still like the way it looks on them after a couple of years, go for it.
