speachless

While we were at the grocery store this afternoon I parked the cart (with B and T in it) next to a couple of Grampa-aged men while I picked out some movie candy (for me and Beth for tonight).

Braden proudly shows off his Lightning McQueen tattoo on his cheek. One of the men replies "Wow look at that! That's really fun! But don't you go getting a real one when you grow up."

By this time I am done picking out candy and I join the conversation. I say "Well, both my husband and I have tattoos ourselves, so we won't be in any position to enforce anything like that." I smiled and tried to make the men see the humor. They did not see the humor.

They began telling me and the boys that people who get tattoos are stupid and how it is a horrible choice. We start to walk away heading for the cashier. They were done with whatever they were doing too and started to walk with us. " Now, you don't want a tattoo. You're too pretty to be a freak" He says to Braden " Excuse me" I say "Do I look like a freak?" He looks me up and down, mutters something about 'to each their own' and plods off to the checkout stand.

At first it didn't bother me. I chalked it up to people just being people.... but as I drove home - it started to eat away at me. I started to get more and more mad.

Freak! Really? What does that word mean anyway? I don't think they even really knew what they were saying. I think they found an easy target and just got to being grumpy about it.

I felt like saying; "how dare you judge me and my family - you don't know me or my kids - what makes you think you can just feel free to burden us with your opinion! how much about the tattoo industry do you really know? Have you walked into a parlor lately - do you know how many law abiding Christian clean cut people have tattoos? and even if they aren't clean cut Christians it doesn't matter - Jesus loves everyone FUCKER!

Here's the other thing that gets me: what is so stupid about getting a tattoo? is it because that some people don't think their decision out fully before they get something permanently drawn on their body? maybe - but there are a lot of people out there who do a lot of stuff without thinking of it first... and it can cause major changes/problems in their life. (drunk driving, unprotected sex etc etc etc).

How judgemental - not everyone gets a tattoo in a drunken stupor (which is not even allowed anymore anyway). I thought very long and hard about what kind of tattoo I wanted. I knew fully what I was doing when I signed on the dotted line. Just because some people are careless doesn't mean I am.

A lot of people talk about privilege. I understand that I am privilege in a lot of ways. But I have never felt so second class than I have living here in Texas. This is just one of the examples. There are others that I may get around to sharing.

Those men made me feel small and stupid in front of my children and in a public place. They probably didn't think a thing about it. I am sure they are not sitting at home telling their family about the lady they met in the grocery store today. They did it because they could. Because they believe that they can say anything and still be right.

Well they are not right.

I am not sure why I took it so personally. Maybe because my children were involved, maybe because of William. I don't know....