Tattoos. People get them for all sorts of reasons. To remember a loved one, to declare their love for someone, as a result of a drunken night; the opinions on them vary between each person. My cousin is a tattoo artist, so he is always telling my family and I about the wide range of art that people ask him to permanently draw on their bodies. I was chatting with my friend’s mom and she was telling me about the tattoo that her oldest daughter wants to get across her entire back: a rainbow fairy dipping her foot into a waterfall. She was trying to figure out a way to hide her daughter’s money so that she has no way of affording such a tattoo.
Here’s the thing with tattoos: it’s permanent. You will have it until you die. People with tattoos tend to be stereotyped, and if you honestly don’t wonder about a tattoo every time you see one, you’re lying. If you see a guy at the pool, let’s call him Tito, with tattoos covering his chest, arms, and legs, everyone assumes him to be a certain type of dude who drinks and smokes and probably doesn’t run with a great crowd. But what if we looked closer at his tattoos? Let’s set up a scenario:
We walk near Tito, sketchily pick a table near his so we can look at him with our sunglasses on so he doesn’t see us staring, and we start reading everything he has put on his body. This is what we see: a bible passage on his shoulders, the face of Jesus on his forearm, a cross with a crown of thorns on his leg, and his children’s names across his chest over his heart.
Now if you started a conversation with an untattooed man, he probably wouldn’t introduce himself by saying “Hi, I’m Dave. I have three kids that mean the world to me, my grandfather, who I was incredibly close to, died on February 6, 2007, and I’m Methodist.” These are things you wouldn’t ever find out about a person on your first meeting. So instead, Tito found a way to express his beliefs and virtues via body art. Who are we to say that tattoos shouldn’t be a perfectly acceptable way to express your religion or beliefs or important parts of your life?
This brings me to my point: why must religions or beliefs be expressed in a specific manner laid out by someone hundreds of years ago? The world is changing, and in order to keep the world actively and happily engaged, I think acceptable ways of communicating faith needs to evolve.
Example: I have Jewish friends who only go to synagogue to please their parents. When they’re at temple, they don’t pay attention or necessarily take anything to heart. The culture surrounding the Jewish religion engages and gives them faith more so than reciting the Torah. Then, we have the rapper Matisyahu, a thiry-one-year-old Jewish artist with a full beard and Yarmulkes, who sold hundreds of tickets at University of Maryland to both Jewish and non-Jewish students.
Imagine, if there were more rappers than just Matisyahu engaging the Jewish youth of today, how much faith would spread. I was at a church service today, and it was instantly more interesting from the get-go because there was an electric guitar and tambourine accompanying the opening hymn. So why is it that, if music is the way that people express themselves best and spread the word, religion is so stuck on classic music?
I was on a boat with my friend’s family the other day and her mom wanted to make sure we were sailing towards the sunset at dusk, because, in her own words, “she felt closest to God at sunset.” So why can’t we have services in the location where we feel closest to God? The Catholic Church doesn’t marry anywhere but inside of a church, but why should couples have to choose between getting married in a place where they feel close to God and where someone tells them they should feel close to God? What if that particular church has no meaning, but under a sunset is where you have made memories, and prayed, and had thought-provoking talks with people you care about? It would make sense that they should be able to get married wherever they choose.
After making a super short thought incredibly long, I just wanted to share the current thoughts that were running through my head while I sit on a lifeguard stand (I’m a lifeguard) and watch people play in the pool for hours at a time.
Peace ‘n’ blessin’s,
A
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