#T2Q's Toss Up Thursday, 3/27/14 (PHOTO)

Ink About It

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I remember in the 80's when the only people you saw with tattoos were gang members and soldiers. They used to represent something, but now, I'm not so sure. Now you see tattoos on kids not even old enough to vote.

Have tattoos lost their meaning? 

Kids are rushing to the tattoo parlor as soon as their old enough to go to get some ink. Why is that? Why is there a need for someone not even capable of making an important decision getting something permanently engraved on their body?

I personally think that the legal age for someone to get a tattoo should at least be 21. Even if you have a parent's consent, 21 should be the age. What makes it so bad is that the people who need jobs the most are the main ones doing it. The governor's son isn't getting tattoos. At least not visible ones. The mayor's daughter doesn't have a rose vine taking up 40% of her back. It's the inner-city and trailer park folks who are yet again separating themselves from success. They're the ones who have to get neck tattoos and ink sleeves.

Look, I'm not saying that tattoos are wrong. I'm just saying that not everyone is making the best decision when it comes to getting them. People need to think about it seriously before they do it.  That includes the people who work for Rapid Realty. Rapid Realty promised a 15% commission increase for those who get the company logo inked on their person. 40 employees did it and got the ink to increase their pay. The tattoos can be any size anywhere on the agent’s body, so it doesn't even have to be visible.

Uh, okay.  15% is a significant raise, but I'm not inking myself for a raise.  What if the company lays you off tomorrow?  I'd have to get some guarantees with my ink!

Have you ever gotten ink on a dare?

We've Failed Our Youth

Where to start? I wish I knew, but I'll do the best I can. Buckle up because this is a long one...

It's hard to say what generation dropped the ball when it comes to our youth. The Generation X group from 1961-1981 would be where I'd start.

We didn't preserve our core values that our parents (from the Baby Boomer era) taught us. We compromised on our beliefs and because of it, we live in a country full of young, lost souls.

So many of us were raised in two-parent households, but ended up as single parents ourselves. Dads raised their sons to be men, but now that job seems to belong to a lot of women. Women have "worn the pants" in their families for so long that their daughters never seem to learn how to be ladies.

What made us change? Why did we, out of all of the people before us, choose to be the group to compromise our values?

Why did we choose to be the generation to make it "okay" to have children without a two-parent household?

Why did we choose to be the generation to make it "okay" to choose buying a material thing over this month's rent?

Why did we choose to be the generation to make it "okay" to have enough visible tattoos to make it hard to tell where your shirt ends and skin begins?

Society played a role in it. Corporations got greedy and inflation out-paced salaries requiring more two income households. That meant no more "June Cleavers" staying home while the "Ward Cleavers" went off to work to bring home the bacon.



With both parents now working in households lucky enough to have two, who's watching the kids?

Well, when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to have responsible adults to look after me while my mom and dad worked. My grandmother lived in my neighborhood and my best friend's grandmother stayed just two houses down. All of them allowed me access to their homes as if I were their kid and they also kept me in line if I acted up.

What are our options now? Daycare? A system that rarely allows for people who truly have love for your child to nourish, educate, and discipline them? That's our resolution? To have strangers raise our kids?

My aunt and uncle, who own a daycare, wouldn't be happy with that statement, but I'm just making a point. :)

So, if kids aren't getting the love, discipline and life lessons at the day care, then it's pretty much up to the parents (or in most cases, the mother) to instill that at home. Is that easy to do when your child is spending 40 hours a week around strangers learning new habits?

Gen X'ers, we've failed our youth. It has led to females who lack lady-like qualities and options in a suitable mate as well as males who are in a perpetual state of boyhood.