Enhance or detract?

One of the things I really don't get are tattoos. As a child I remember seeing them on military people and thugs and circus performers. But today you see them on everyday people, men, women, teens. And not just a rose on one's shoulder, but tattoos that completely cover one's arms, chest, neck, legs, and, I am sure, areas which are not visible. Many people have bible phrases written on their bodies. These people scare me as do all zealots.  Others have famous literary statements or words of their own which they think deserve a permanent place on their youthful neck which will one day become a wrinkled wattle. Still others have foreign expressions or  Chinese symbols which they are always happy to translate. I admit there is a certain sexuality about some tattoos, but more often than not they seem like neurotic exhibitionism. It's sort of like wearing the same shirt or dress every day of your life. And what happens when you become at 32 a more mature person than you were at 23 when you wallpapered your body? Tattoo removal, I am told, is expensive, painful and disfiguring. I am not really bothered by this sudden trend to tattooing, just perplexed. It's your body. Do with it what you like. Hmmm. I wonder why Republicans haven't leapt on an an anti-tattoo bandwagon.