6 • SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE
SATURDAY NIGHT
& SUNDAY MORNINGso bad. Us loner types were normally the
first to get tattooed and usually for our own
amusement rather than to make any sweep-
ing statement too.
Fast forward from back then to now, and
everything we never used to talk about is
talked about on a grand scale. People feel
marginalised to the max about their sexual-
ity, their thoughts, their size, their race... you
name it, the world is talking about it and it’s
getting hot out there.
A couple of years back, there was Big Nega-
tive Conversation about being visibly tat-
tooed. Outlawed from certain jobs, treated
differently by society etc but, these things
are hardly ever talked about now. I think we
made it through the rain. Even the Daily Mail
has moved on.
On the few occasions I interact with the
wider world (not counting tattoo conven-
tions because that would be dumb) I would
venture that most people don’t even notice
I’m tattooed anymore. We have immunised
the world. When non-tattooed people start
not to notice you have any, that’s a step in the
right direction.
Or is it?
For some people—and you may be one of
them—it’s their stamp on the world. It’s how
they have chosen to state they are different
from everybody else and when those other
people don’t see what they have done to
themselves, that in itself can be an uninten-
tional bone of contention.
It’s the same for artists... one day you can
post an image that might be the best thing
they ever did and it will get a whole bunch of
likes... post a pic of a not so good kitten they
tattooed and it trebles. The clued-in ones
get it and keep moving but it can leave some
wondering what the hell they have to do to
make a dent in the world... after all, we’re all
included now, so why hasn’t life changed for
the better beyond all recognition?
We are all equal surely?
But that’s not true of any society—some an-
imals will always be more equal than others.
Even in a microcosm of (for example) people
that identify as mermaids, there is a hierar-
chy of who is the better mermaid.
I’m pretty certain there is some kind of or-
der to even a mermaid populace—who canI ONLY HAVE TO TAKE THE DOG
OUT TO SEE THIS IS TRUE OF ALL
ANIMAL BASED LIFE FORMS
swim best, who has the better tail... I only have to take the dog out to
see this is true of all animal based life forms. Hell, even trees have a
hierarchy based on which of them can grow fastest towards the light.
All of which is a really long way to go about saying, you are whatev-
er is going on in your head and you can master the conversation
you have with yourself for the better. I’ve been there.
I’m no expert in such things—far from it—but if today, you chose
to get tattooed with something better than you already have or you
chose to tattoo better than you ever did before, there’s pride in that.
It makes you a great human being because at that given moment, you
were serving the best version of yourself you could be, by being the
thing you’ve chosen to be better than you did it yesterday. That train
of thought counts for everything–even if it is a royal mouthful.
I don’t know why I felt a need to say all of this out loud to whoever
is reading—and the beauty of not being on being on social media is I
don’t have to look and see if anybody agrees or likes it—but my work
here is done simply by saying: You’re good enough. Really.
One day you too will die and eventually the world will forget about
you... my Apple Music feed even showed me a new hip-hop artist this
week called T.Rex. I assume the dude is just young but if the old school
is up for grabs based on it being “ages ago”, you can call me Prince
from here on. Matty Roughneck