None of the millennials I know who got tatted during the height of the fashion wave match the character* of being tattooed. And some of them really went all out. Truly amazing what the desire to conform to our tribe will make us do to ourselves.

(*statistically a drug addict, criminal or prostitute)

Maybe I shouldn't be telling on myself like this, but I think tattoos look really cool and the only reason I'm not getting one is because how many people look down on them.

I knew a man who had been in the Navy, in the Pacific, during WW2. Not many men of his generation had tattoos, but most of the ones who did were sailors, and he was no exception. Large tattoo on his forearm: a jester, with the hat and bells, like from a deck of cards.

I knew another man of that generation with a number tattooed on his wrist. He never talked about it.