When I checked in at the airport of Amsterdam last week, there was a nice young lady helping me behind the check-in counter; her bare arms without any tattoo looked beautiful. I glanced at the row of young persons in blue uniform - men and women - and could not see any tattoo. Also in the shops at the busy airport I hardly saw any tattoo on the skin of the salespersons. Same holds true for the persons, who checked the hand-luggage and conducted a body-check when the machine indicated such necessity.
When I arrived in Budapest, I saw lots of airport employees having an abundance of tattoos. Going to the taxi-stand, a nice young lady with black arms from tattoos handed me the paper with the number of the arriving taxis. Getting into the taxi, the driver again was covered with many tattoos on neck and arms (the only body-parts I could see).
This experience reflected the big difference between the use of tattoos in Dutch and Hungarian societies. You do not really see a lot of them in Holland (except among sailors, workers in construction projects and indeed in very discrete manner among some young mostly working people. In Hungary it is all over the street wherever you go. The questions, which I often ponder about, are: why do people use tattoos, what impact has it on society, what are the consequences for the future?
I am not condemning the use of tattoos. My personal views may not be relevant, because I am 75 years old and are seeing many things conservatively and perhaps even in a somewhat old-fashioned way. My personal views are the following:
a) tattoos are in many cases terrible to watch (legs and arms completely black or in many different colors)
b) tattoos could not easily be removed and only with additional costs
c) tattoos may be unhealthy for the skin and body. We will know more in the future after thorough medical research
d) tattoos reflect a society of unhappiness; either they are poor or their freedom is limited or both. In my observation, the poorer the country, the more tattoos you see. Very much like smoking of cigarettes.
I would be in favor of governments forbidding the use of tattoos for health reasons, namely the health of the individual persons and the health of society. This could be easily enforced by rules at the airport. In Singapore there was a rule (and perhaps that rule still exists) that arriving passengers with very long hair were not allowed to enter the country and either had to leave again or needed to have a hair-cut. This could be applied for tattoos as well.
I am writing these lines to challenge others and hear their views. Please let me have your comments. I look forward to learn from your thoughts.