Thomas Martin

Thomas Martin teaches in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. You may contact Thomas Martin at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A good friend of mine is worried because his sixteen-year-old daughter wants to pierce her belly button and get a tattoo. He thought I, being a father of two grown daughters, could offer some advice on how he might discourage her from both of these acts.

His daughter's basic argument is that the "other girls" in high school are getting tattoos and "it's just body art anyway, DAD!"

What his daughter wants epitomizes two quite natural longings in man's nature. First, everyone hungers for something permanent in life; and, second, everyone wants to praise the source of God-given life.

What child does not love their mother?

My friend's daughter in her exuberance wants to express the gift of life coursing through her veins by placing jewels around her navel as if it were a tabernacle for everyone to adore.

A pierced navel, so attractive to teenagers in hip huggers, won't be an appealing display in her twenties when stomachs start to fold and women no longer desire to exhibit their bellies to strangers. Fortunately, the pierced navel will heal and close to a faint scar.

Here, a father need not worry.

The permanent tattoo, however, is an altogether different matter, even though it is a longing in her for something that is unchanging and eternal.

From the earliest time, man has used his skin as a canvas. Tattooing was first a form of scarification, as primitive man found he could cut holes in his skin, char sticks in the fire and then apply the black ash to his wounds to create tribal markings.

Since tattooing involved pain, fire, and the letting of blood, it was associated with a sacrifice to the gods. Primitive man believed that the indelible mark of a tattoo released sacred forces which aligned a person's soul with his god's purpose, increased virility and fertility, delineated hierarchies within tribes and preserved the body after death.

The idea of having indelible marks releasing sacred forces still exists in the indelible mark of baptism, which washes away original sin and gives those sealed with this sign a purpose that transcends far beyond the body art of the tattoo parlor.

It is safe to say, people who get tattoos nowadays are not practicing a sacred art form; tattoos have the power to draw attention. It is the mark of a self-indulgent age when young and old alike treat their skin like a canvas for a commercial artist's symbols and slogans so other people will notice them, and, if you're a high-schooler or a gang member, be admitted to the in-crowd.

Did you ever stop to notice how the tattooed are held captive by what is pumping-up off their bicep, rising up above the crack, in their back, fluttering off their shoulder blades, or winking from their breast (wherever!)? Just like a Narcissus, who fell in love with his image and drowned in a pool of water, they are eager for everyone to see the indelible markings on their proud pound of flesh.

No young girl in the spring of her life thinks of the winter of her discontent when she will have more skin than she needs. The now supple and meaty flesh springing back from the tattooist's needle, will sag, a skin of wrinkles, creases and cracks so that the colorful parrot plumage now pricked onto her left shoulder might later be mistaken for a waterfall - or a buzzard.

A young girl who wants a tattoo as an expression of "body art" is taking the easy way out. True body art involves the art of having a body by willfully accepting responsibility and caring for one's soul. The art of maintaining a body starts with eating a well balanced diet, exercising self-control in the soulful act of being virtuous and not letting your carnal desires rule your body.

A young girl must see that true beauty is not skin deep but emanates from her soul, in her smile, those flickering lashes, gentle lips, abounding exuberance and, more importantly, in her virtuous character which will not sag, wrinkle or crack in time as she transcends the grave.

And so it goes. *