THE ECHO

by Addy Bean

It starts the same way every time—somewhere between the first whiff of independence and the second protein shake of the day, a teenage boy marches into a tattoo parlor with the confidence of a philosopher and the design sense of a dorm room poster. Minutes later, he emerges permanently branded with what might as well be the official logo of Adolescent Male Identity Crisis: a compass, a lion, or worse, a clock with Roman numerals. Individually, each tattoo tells a story. Collectively, they scream, “I Googled ‘meaningful tattoos’ at 2 a.m. and chose the first image I saw.” 

What does this all mean? DON’T GET A COPY AND PASTE TATTOO.

There are millions of personal designs, doodles, and phrases that you can put on your body, and yet, high school boys always find a way to get a tattoo that’s identical to another student’s and maybe even in the same place.

I am by no means telling you that whatever design you chose doesn’t identify with you or your character, but did you really have to get the first tattoo you saw on a Christian athlete’s Pinterest board?

As a Catholic, I’ll admit that getting a faith-based tattoo was practically the only way of convincing my mother to sign off on the decision. But I found a way to make my tattoo unique to myself. I was able to take a beautiful lily flower design and incorporate one of my favorite verses into the stem. My permanent ink design has been seen on no other, and I don’t think it ever will be. I get to brag about the individuality of my tattoo.

The same can’t be said for some. While writing a piece solely dedicated to criticizing the tattoo choices of teenage boys is quite enjoyable, I do feel as if I must give some advice. If you have yet to get your first tattoo, please put some real thought into the design. A faith-based tattoo can be unique if you truly contemplate which symbols, colors, and verse you want to include.

Take inspiration, but don’t completely copy another artist’s work. If you are a teenage boy who has already decided to permanently alter your skin (most likely your forearm), make sure that you know what your verse means.

Explain your thinking with the design. Your tattoo may look copy and paste, but a good background story could save you the humiliation of being told that your tattoo is on 20 other guys at school.