Wednesday, November 28, 2007

All Apologies

Greetings loyal readers. I know you must be loyal, because if you're still reading my blog after a month of inactivity, you must be loyal! And so my first apology. I'm sorry I waited so very long to update my poor, neglected blog.

Which begs the question, what's my second apology? Well, I recently received some anonymous feedback as part of my official yearly evaluation process that questioned the appropriateness of my last post for our teens. Apparently the primary message these folk got out of the post was "My mom didn't want me to get a tattoo, but I did it anyway."

If that's the message I was sending, then they are right. That is not an appropriate message to send our teenagers.

To be fair, I was trying to send the message that it's ok for a 30 year old man to come to a different conclusion than his parents. That I was glad that I did not get a tattoo as a teen, because I surely didn't know enough as a teenager to warrent a perminant alteration of appearance.

However, I learned in communications class that what you communicate is defined by what is received, not what you sent.

So I apologize for my previous post. And now I'm going to try to be clear.

Teens should not get tattoos. The biggest part of being a teen is the process of figuring out who you are and what you believe. Things change very fast for you now, and all through college. So until you're out on your own, making your own living, and able to deal with the rights and responsiblities of being an adult, listen to your parents. They really do know better than you do. I know you're going to rebel, that's part of growing up. But for my sake, don't get tattooed to rebel.

Get a piercing instead.

Be good to each other
Honor your Father and Mother
Rev. Josh
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