@BrunoBrookesDinedAlone
Yes it is a generation thing... and yes I am reasonably old.
I grew up in a poor depressed area where there were very little prospects. When I finally escaped and went to university, there was a huge contrast in the amount of tattoos that people had compared to where I grew up.
I have associated smoking and tattoos with poverty and deprived areas my whole life. I also associate tattoos with rebellion, which went hand in hand in my younger years with the use of hard drugs such as heroin, crack etc... and yes, I was one of the kids who sat just on the edge, just occasionally being part of that scene.
A number of friends I went to school with are dead... mostly due to drugs, a couple of suicides, one I know from AIDS (sharing needles) etc.
Yes I understand things have changed and they are now the norm, particularly since celebs have now embarrassed them... and people no longer have Oi! tattooed across their foreheads.
I guess I feel pretty strongly when I think back about my younger years and the decisions I made.. and the impact that these have in your later years. I have terrible short term memory loss due to drug use, but manage to hold down a job with a 6 figure salary. Do I regret the things I did when I was young.... yes... if I knew when I was young what I know today would I have changed the way I of how you will feel in the behaved,? probably no... when you are young, you have no interest in how you will feel in the future... but do I have regrets, yes.
Yes off topic, but the point is, when you are young, you couldn't care less how you will feel in the future as it seems so far away.... and I know I probably sound like one of your parents, but it's because your parents have already been there, done it, got the tee shirt.
Life is all about learning from mistakes, but we seem to mostly learn from our own mistakes and not through "generations" of mistakes.
Anyway, have a good weekend