Oh, dear, God…

Tattoos, I like them. You know I’ve acquired a few.

There are people who say, “If God wanted you to have tattoos, you’d have been born with them.” This type of comment usually comes from people with pierced ears.

I like to point out, nicely and with no snide intentions, that if You wanted them to have clothes, You’d have had their Mum pop them out in a suit and tie or a dress and pumps.

Why stop at how we decorate our bodies? Why not have God take control of what we put into our bodies too? No tattoos, no scarfing bags of Oreo cookies, I say. That was a good point reinforcing Your free will clause, huh?

If You wanted control over the adornment of our bodies, there would’ve never been leisure suits in the seventies.

While we’re on clothes, I can’t begin to offer explanations of outrageous outfits that have met my eyes. An orange dress was made from the fencing to keep people out of ditches during road construction. There were a couple of well placed flowers, suspenders, and meat, masquerading as fashion. We are as creative as we are critical of each other’s body decorations.

We are also forgetful of the past. I’ll bet You remember when black teeth became a sign to distinguish rich from poor since only the rich could afford to buy and eat sugar. Lower classes blackened their teeth to give the impression of belonging to a “higher” (term used loosely here) class. (Don’t get me started on this class B.S. while I’m trying to figure out body decoration. I’ll get back to You on that at another time.)

I’ve also read about arsenic dresses, giant man wigs where a sword was needed to remove your hat, and stuffing one’s clothes with sawdust and horsehair to exaggerate body shape. You’ve let us get away with quite an array of crazy, though not always healthy, fashion and adornments.

Before we criticize one another’s body art and clothes maybe we should think about walking around in arsenic dresses, smiling through black teeth, or being naked. Tattoos and clothes are two of those things that set us apart or make us feel the same, but ultimately teach us to respect each other’s choices.

So I guess we shouldn’t fret so much about adornments or other people’s comments about our choice. What’s inside the ink and cloth is what counts. Maybe we need to focus on heart and soul instead. That’s the point, huh?

(Notice I used initials B.S. instead of being a potty mouth.) I’m sure You did, but it doesn’t hurt to point out improvements.

Hey, thanks for listening.