It was one of the strangest tattoos I’ve seen. Not that I’m at any good at digging out the meaning behind all those things. But when all those lines crisscross, swirl around all over someone’s skin like crazy; it demands more than curious genes to gather the patience and look closer and what the thing is all about. As of late the tattoos you see mainly on sports and entertainment, personalities have become so complex your only reaction would be, “What in the world is that awful looking thing?”
This tattoo I was telling you about was not on any adult or someone close to that age group’s body. It was on the forearm of a really tiny girl who I was told was no more than fifteen. I mean she was so tiny even for her age she doesn’t seem to have much of a forearm with enough space for any tattoo. But somehow it was there. How did it get there? How in the world did a girl as young as hers ever think of having a tattoo? That’s the real question to be asked, isn’t it? A couple of those close to her said a few friends in the same school with her but a little older than her convinced her into getting one. Another friend says, so I learned, believes she was forced into having it. To judge based on her reactions was difficult because at times she seems to like it and at other times she seems to hate it. At fifteen I wonder how mentally ready she could have been for such experiences.
These days some tales coming out of schools aren’t at all nice. Innocent and mostly underage kids, so it said, are ‘convinced’ fooled or forced into doing things they don’t normally do. Things they don’t normally do because they are nowhere near to signs of good behavior or the mark of kids mentally and physically bracing up for a tough, tough world ahead. Unfortunately, many parents maybe think it is all about modernity or because they are too selfish and lazy to shoulder the real responsibility of parents have left their kinds at the mercy of the social media. Sad!
Tattoos aren’t new to Ethiopia. They have been around for ages especially in the countryside. But every tattoo on whatever body part it is found has some reason for it being there. People didn’t get tattoos for the sake of joining the crowd or because they liked some design or other such trivial, some would say silly, reasons, but those were time when the notion of being civilized is not being yourself, but others. You have to put up personality of an American and even do your best to pick up their dialect. So many people tried to use their noses (Ha!) while speaking in the English language and ended up sounding like toddlers who haven’t yet started using their vocal chords.
So mainly in the cities tattoos were scoffed at. Those who wore it were subjects of ridicule as uncivilized. The fernjis didn’t do it and you shouldn’t! The benchmark of civilization was just that, ding what the ferenjis did. If you failed to tow that line well the world wouldn’t be nice to you. Unique words were even created to abuse the ladies (because it was mostly the ladies) who wore tattoos.
So what happed now? Why is everybody wearing tattoos? What happened to change people’s minds so drastically? Well I’ll tell you what…the ferenjis started wearing tattoos! Aha! So that was the case, like many other things.
I do watch European soccer regularly. Having been doing it for quit a while I can tell you which team would take this season’s EPL title. But since it should be a surprise I won’t tell you! You can bet all your money in the bank, under the bed and in that dark spot at the back of the house that every fan of EPL would tell you the same. Anyways a massive shift in world soccer in recent years seems to be all the players wear tattoos, well almost all. In fact seeing tattoo-less players is a rarity. And I always wonder where such a thing turned into something compulsory. Have you witnessed how some players act after the final whistle? They take off their shirts! Yes I know nothing is wrong with that, I can understand if it had been a hot afternoon or they wanted to give their jerseys to someone, on the field or in the stands. But if it is neither of this it’s probably to show off their tattoos! Some of them seem to have tattooed ninety eight percent of their body!
The little girl I told you about much of the time found herself a total wreck because reactions weren’t what she must have expected. You know, like those wide-eyed, “That’s the best tattoo I’ve ever seen!” “You look so beautiful with that tattoo!” It was usually “You must have bad friends!” Society could be merciless when it comes to criticizing and laying the blame on others.
As to her parents, they remained in the dark for the good part of month, until one day her mother almost fainted at seeing what was on her baby daughter’s arm. She broke the news to her husband and they say it was D-day in the house. Short of physical abuse, which they never did to any of their children, the parents scolded her, called her all kinds of names and threatened her with severe punishments. When they cooled down a couple of days later, their daughter in a very sorry state; they now think they overreacted and trying to win her trust again is still an ongoing process.
The Ethiopian Herald march 27/2022