Sage Saying About Tattoos

I first heard my friend Purdue-Ben say this several years back, but was reminded of it most recently not but 30 seconds ago upon seeing a guy in Japan with the kanji 発 tattooed onto the back of his scalp in black henna:

Whenever I meet someone who tells me they're planning on getting a tattoo, I always ask 'em this question: "if you could have gotten any one tattoo when you were 6 years old, what would it have been? and would you still want it today?"

Ben says that this can be applied in increments of one decade, i.e. ask a 24-year old what he would have wanted at ages 6 and 16; ask a 32-year old what he would have wanted at ages 6, 16, and 26; etc. I agree. But I also agree that the simple version of the question is both sufficient and poignant.

Seriously: the next time you catch yourself thinking how schuh-hweet it would be to get a tattoo of [insert anything], remember this advice. I'm guessing most of the readership is like me and has no interest in tattoos (no desire to permanently modify one's body, no love of needles or self-inflicted misery, etc), but for the one or two of you who think it might be cool to one day get a this or a that tattooed somewhere on your body ... yeaaaaaaah. This one's for you.