I don’t have a tattoo. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get one. That’s the sort of foolishness that, if I was gonna participate, I should have done in my 20s.

My best chance was probably during my junior year of college. A few of my friends went out and got tattoos. I’m not sure if I was invited or not, but I’m sure I could have gone if I’d wanted to. Someone once asked me why I wouldn’t get a tattoo. Naturally, they assumed that I was afraid of the pain. I told him it wasn’t the pain, it was the commitment.

Think about it… a tattoo is for life. Yeah, there are expensive and painful ways to get rid of tattoos. But come on, you just had someone jam a needle full of ink into your skin. Do you really want to get rid of that?So you’ve got this permanent, colorful scar on your body. What happens when you’re a grandfather or grandmother? How do you explain to your grandkids why you have a snake wrapped around the sword on your forearm?

It’s definitely an issue of commitment. If I were to decide to make that commitment, I’m not even sure what image I would want to commit to. There are so many options. And there are a lot of very creative options. I’m not knocking tattoos or tattoo artists. I’ve seen a lot of tattoos that are truly works of art.

But for me, I’m gonna keep saying no to the tattoo.