by Heather M Davis

Created on: August 27, 2009   Last Updated: November 04, 2010

Tattooing can be a painful process  People still do it every day. Regardless of any pain they may endure, when the pain is over, the tattoo is still there. Forever. Pain is fleeting, tattoos are permanent. People sit for hours to finish off a sleeve, or start a thigh tattoo. People's mothers, children, bankers, nurses, come in and suffer for a small tattoo on their ankle or build their back piece a session at a time.

Why would people suffer for that? Just a bit of ink? Just a little drawing? A design? Everyone's answers are different, but it comes down to...They think it's worth it. So many of the most beautiful things in life are painful at some point. Childbirth is not a gentle massage. Plucking or waxing eyebrows isn't exactly a great feeling, but the visual appeal is worth it to some people. Going back to the gym after a long time of inactivity is usually a long-term and initially painful process, but it's a good decision for the people who like it.

Tattoos are a way to make the outside match the inside. It's a beautiful celebration of life. People have tattoos that represent people, that represent periods of their lives, books that they really like, some that people just think are really funny. Some people have matching tattoos with another person they care for.

If you go into a tattoo shop, you will see people coming in and sitting through the pain every day. For some, it's not much, they don't think it hurts at all. For others, it's just brutal, and they will stop mid-tattoo to go cry for a minute, have some water, whatever, then sit back in the chair once they've had a break.  People get tattoos with their families, memorials and birth dates and portraits of their mother. They come by themselves to get decorated, and show what they love on their skin. They come in with friends to get a little something to remember that trip they took to Hawaii.

Tattooing can be painful, absolutely. But it only hurts while it's getting done. It's only sore while it's healing, and usually no worse than a bruise. But the tattoo itself is forever. If we all held back from doing something because it might hurt...We'd never do anything. Tattoos are just a more visible reminder of that.  The pain is worth it. People are willing to suffer for something beautiful.

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