A few days ago, a lady I follow on the blue app (Facebook) posted a tattoo of her only son's name on her arm, although I have been following this last up and so far so good, I have listened and read the story surrounding the birth of her son who is the only child she has after years If marriage and all through this years, every pregnancy she had taken in never lasted till the end.
She either had miscarriages after a few months or had stillbirths and throughout this year, she got backlash from close people for not being pregnant until the pregnancy that brought about her son whose name she decided to tattoo on her arm. When she did the tattoo and decided to post it, she got a lot of backlash from people for doing such a thing as a mature lady but then, it was her choice and her body.
I can also remember years back, an aunt of mine who is a twin, also while away from home drew a flower tattoo on her left shoulder, after years of staying away from family due to some circumstances, she decided to come back, only to return with a tattoo. I admired it because it was beautiful and as well blended with her skin but her parents who happen to be my grandparents, were against it and told her that for her to be accepted as her daughter, she had to clean off the tattoo but unfortunately, it was a permanent tattoo.
One day, I saw her and a mark in the place where her tattoo used to be on her shoulder, so I asked my mom who told me that since she couldn't find a way to clean off the tattoo on her shoulder, she had to use a hot iron to press hard on her shoulder to peel off that particular skin the flower tattoo was which gave a wound and when the wound healed, the tattoo was no longer there.
While I grew up, I relaxed that many people who love to tattoo on their bodies, use those tattoos to tell a story about their life experiences or maybe to remember someone who they loved but lost due to death, perhaps it could be the painful death of their loved us and since they couldn't shake it off and move on, they decided that tattooing their names or something that represented them is one best way to move on from their the loss of their loved ones.
I wouldn't know how true that is but so far so good, the few people I have come across with tattoos on their bodies, have given me deep revelations about the tattoos on their bodies and so many times I believe it is due to hurt or them trying to share their life stories or experiences.
Whenever I see people do tattoos on their bodies, I always fall in love with them, especially the beautiful ones but for some reason, bi am scared about drawing tattoos on my body, perhaps it could be because of the lash I would get from my mom who like every African and Christian mothers see tattoos as a sin and unholy and that it defiles our body.
It is quite rare to see people especially from my country not bash people who draw tattoos on their bodies all because of our beliefs (religious) and cultural system which is quite funny. I love tattoos, and I would love to have one but I have a phobia of pinpricks and pain, I am not sure I would want to be a part of the tattoo gang.
Notwithstanding, I don't have issues with tattoos and do not see any need for the backlash because if we want to examine this tattoo of a thing from history, the tattoo has been in existence. Maybe because it was not modified the way our current generation has modified it but it has been from conception.
A particular tribe in my country is known or can be differentiated from other tribes through the tattoo of their names (native names) on their arm while another tribe was known and differentiated from other tribes through their tattoo on both cheeks.
This and many more tattoos were being done back then, but now it feels like everyone is against tattooing and also sees it as a sin before their creator. I have also heard that some companies do not employ a person who has a tattoo on his or her body it does not matter if it is just one and an insignificant one as long as you have a tattoo, you are already disqualified for the job.
This is my participation in this month's daily Inleo initiative.
Thank you for reading!!!