Mama said
I remember a tweet I saw sometime ago when someone said everytime a nude picture flys on Twitter the person involved most likely has a tattoo or piercing in a crazy place. If you look at it well the person is not far from the truth. They’re things that show a person lacks foresight into the future and they are only interested in enjoying the now. You can’t tell me care about the future when you pierced your tongue. There’s nothing to tell.
I understand that these things are a coping mechanism and cover for alot of insecurities, mental health instabilities and all manner of trauma but it's tiring when these things are encouraged. People are going through alot nowadays and nothing inside them makes them happy so they make do with what they can.
One of my favorite quotes from the book "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi is "The angels believed and the people agreed that there was a good amount of proper and deserved shame in history and some things were just never going to be things to be proud of.”
I understand we are in the era of rebelliousness. Young people nowadays want to shatter every norm out there in the name of freedom and empowerment but we forget there’s a reason these things were frowned upon. By itself and on it’s own and I don’t think there’s a problem with getting tattoos and piercings. They’re fine, they make you feel alive and beautiful and I don’t really believe in the damnation stories but there’s a pattern with such things and people who tow that line.
They’re two types of people in the world in my eyes. People who know where their lines are and people who don’t. The second group of people are people who get a tattoo and don’t stop there. For them what’s the next thing. They can’t stop. They’re in the same group as people who abuse substances, same group as people who gamble till it lands them in the hospital or they need outside help. People who don’t know when to stop. Everything with them has to end up with a problem. The Bible admonishes in the book of proverbs not to remove the ancient landmarks set by our fathers. Our generation is too quick to forget that societal values are not inhibitors for the sake of it. They’re there as checks for going wild. Things like purity culture, abstinence in young people and even cutting your hair a certain way is for one’s protection. Because when home training doesn’t check you in the old days, shame will. These days its the in thing and people are crossing lines daily and its only going to get worse.
Everybody wants validation nowadays. Everybody wants to be encouraged in foolishness in the name of mental health. No one wants to really be accountable for stuff they do. There’s absolutely nothing that can’t be twisted to fit a narrative these days and appeal to the general public. We care so much about being woke more than anything else.
Whatever values you still hold, keep keeping up and pass to people coming after you. A life without values is already lost to the wind before it begins. Respecting one’s self and others can never be outdated. What are those strong personal values that keeps you true??