Originally Posted by
Ball Bearing
There was a tattoo thread on a forum I sometimes read where a poster said that he was into temporary tattoos. I was amazed when a bunch of people who have tattoos came down on him and accused him of cowardice and being phony. The irony of them not accepting his choices was really an eye opener to me.
Your post reminded me of the above because the proud tattooed people specifically said that the blood and the pain of being inked were part of the ritual proving their genuineness and commitment.
Penn Jillette told the story of getting a tattoo without ink. It just made a scar that eventually healed. He wanted to see what tattooing was like but didn't want any permanent body art.
Lou Reed wrote a song about it called "Tattoo of Blood".
There is nothing cooler than that.