Removing Tattoos for Work's Sake

The well known tattoo subculture is quickly making its way into the "normal". That statement shouldn't surprise anybody. Everywhere from New York City to Salt Lake City to Los Angeles to rural Washington, the younger generations (and some well informed older folks as well) are making the move toward using their bodies as a form of canvas. Twenty years ago, it would not have been likely that your favorite grocery store checker (you know, that guy with the incredible soy burger recipe?) would have looked like something straight out of a science fiction novel, but there it is. Tattooing has become so much a part of mainstream culture that nary an eye was blinked when Dr. Jack Shepherd (on the popular TV show, Lost), a spinal surgeon, showed up on the island with his entire shoulder tattooed. While it worries some that this subculture type of activity has become so popular in the mainstream (some psychologists even have the gall to call this "self mutilation;" those silly quacks), I am one of those who believes that tattoos are simply the way people are expressing themselves nowadays. From devils and angels on one's shoulders to protective tattoos on one's wedding hand (as a friend of mine has), the only reason one has to rid themselves of a tattoo is to try and fit in with a culture that has not quite caught up with the rest of us yet. Which brings us to the main point of this article.