I think about how much I have changed in the last 10 years. Of how I have come from being a person, a human being who was in effect living my life for other to the person I have become today.
At A Glance Author Shamus Greenman Contact Shamus [email protected] IAM Shamus Greenman When N/A I think about how I have grown and matured in some aspects, and how I have totally regressed in others!! I'm a 35 year old BOY!! I'm going on 10, I feel alive and amazed and simply blown away by the world around me, every day is a new adventure. I spend my free time on IAM, I look at new ideas for tattoos and research my next piercing. I'm like a child again. All of the things I've been and done in the past seem to melt away, and I have finally found the freedom I wish I had had when I was 18.
I'll never regret what I've done and who I have been, for god's sake it all led me here, so it could not all have been bad. Some days I forget how close I came to becoming "one of them"...a person where "rules" were never meant to be broken, a person who fit in, who conformed because it was what "everybody" does. I remember back to when I was a young cop, we had an instructor who came in from the RCMP gangs division, he gave a two hour lecture on tattoos, there meaning and how you could identify the criminal element by them. He said that most people with tattoos were criminal, they had been done in prison to show gang affiliation, or they were on the arms of drug addicts and they were used to cover up the track marks..........he was telling us this in 1989!! No while in some cases that information is true, it's not the rule. Look at bikers....less than 1% are involved in any type of criminal activity, but society has it's view. Same for cops, get one bad one, and all cops are crooked and out to meet quota...which for the record does not exist!!
Fortunately I chose to educate myself after having been on the street a while, I could not believe that a piercing or tattoo immediately meant you were a criminal, or that you were a punk up to no good....that just did not make sense to me. I'm glad I did.
As I grew up, I slowly started to come to terms with who I am, and then set about the task of becoming me. I enjoyed the changes, the growth that came with my mods. I was lucky, I was in an accepting place, most people took the change well, and I was for the most part never judged for my piercing or tattoo, never denied opportunities because of them. And I slowly say that the world as a whole was become more accepting.
Sure, mods and tats became a trend, and still are.....but in a way isn't that good? It means hopefully people have and will become educated on the facts and will be more accepting of those of us with mods. Or so I thought.
I read Shannon's piece on the Niagara Catholic District School Board, and Denis Morris Catholic school in particulars decision to ban body piercing, and that students who did not remove their body piercing on or before February 4th 2003 would not only be expelled but would not graduate. Was this for real? Could this be happening in Canada? Then I remember that last year a school banned a gay student from bringing his lover to the prom which then causes a court battle for that students rights...and I realized, yup, this is happening in Canada, in the year 2003.
How dare a school, a place of learning and of enlightenment do such a thing? Schools are meant to be places of growth, where young people find themselves and learn how to interact and express their thoughts emotions and desires. It's the place where you begin to learn who you are, and it is where you should be allotted the most freedom to do so. And here is a small group of people, lead by one ignorant uneducated man dictating to our future.
I know I do not want to live in a world which is dictated by ignorance and hate, I do not want my country or it's youth dictated to by someone who has not taken the time to explore the reason behind body modification, and it's use to express ones self.
I spent 11 years in the service of a great country and great people, a place where many have given all to ensure our freedoms. How dare any one small group of people try to take that away???
I've typed up a letter, and sent it off today to the principal of the school...and while I
hold no delusion that it will change very much, I need to add my voice to Shannon's, so that these people will know that what they are doing will not go unnoticed by the community and the country as a whole.
I've added the letter for you all to read...and hopefully it will help to change a mind or two...if not, well at least I did not sit by and let someone steal freedom from others.
Principal Maurice Charbonneau
Denis Morris Catholic High School
40 Glen Morris Dr.
St. Catharines, Ont
L2T 2M9
Dear Principal Charbonneau,
I am writing to you in response to recent reports that Denis Morris Catholic High School has chosen to put into effect a rule which was adopted last year to effectively ban body piercing and to expel any student who did not comply with a February 4th deadline to remove the piercing.
First off, I would like to identify myself, I am not a member of the community, I live in Quebec, nor do I have any children or family members attending Denis Morris, I am simply a concerned Canadian, worried that the rights of students, free citizens of Ontario Canada are having their Constitutional rights removed with what I consider an illegal act of discrimination.
I once, a long time ago may have shared your views on body piercing, tattoos or any form of body modification. I am a former police officer having served at both the federal and municipal level, I am also a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces. At 34 I have spent 11 years "serving" my country, a country that is continually ranked number one as the best place to live on earth, in large part to our freedom and quality of life.
When I was a police officer I may have chosen to follow an ignorant path such as the one your school has adopted. A view that a person with any form of body modification, be it a piercing or tattoo was trouble, was a distraction and would inevitably lead others to follow some type of evil path. Certainly if someone willingly chose to stick needles into their body or disfigure it with a design that was permanent in nature there must be something wrong with them. Only criminals and gang members become tattooed or pierced. While in some case this is true, nothing, as a whole could be further from the truth.
I chose to become educated in the area of body modification, instead of maintaining an ignorant uneducated view. And, as I became more educated, I slowly became more interested in the meaning behind tattoos, and piercing. I began to discover that body modification is more an expression of personal belief. Presently I have 8 piercings, some in non conventional locations, I also have 5 tattoos, and have plans for more of each. I am employed by a Fortune 500 company, in a supervisory position responsible for 24 people with an annual budget in the hundreds of millions. I also write, am a published author and photographer, run a successful consulting business, am a devoted Son to both of my parents and I am an excellent friend. I am an active member of my community. I am also educated, holding two Bachelor or Arts degrees.
I find, and feel that as a society Canada is at the forefront of accepting people as individuals. We hold dear many rights that are routinely taken away from many people the world over, simply because the dictator of the day wished it to be so.
Tattoos and piercing have been a part of society for as long as there have been records kept. Native Americans, the tribes and people of Africa, the ancient Celts and Romans, all used piercing and tattoo as a form of faith and expression of self, as symbols of devotion or tradition.
To say that a tattoo or a piercing is inductive of negative behavior is an archaic thought. To say that it will cause distraction or lend to a group or gang like mentality is also short sighted. To say that they are unsightly is also unbelievable. Would you then ask a person in a wheel chair to not use the device, as it cause distraction in the hallways, or that it incurs extra expense for the school to become handicap equipped? Would you demand that an over weight student go for cosmetic liposuction because their weight was unsightly and a distraction to others....and then if these students did not follow through with your request by a specific date then expel them?
In today's society almost anything can lend itself to a group or gang like behavior, be in fashion or music. Humans are, at our very heart social beings that will always want to interact in social environments as groups. But we are also free individuals who value freedom and express ourselves in many different ways.
Body modification, piercing, tattoo are, when do correctly safe and enjoyable. Most tattoo artists and body piercers in Canada will not do any work on someone under the age of 18, or without a letter of consent from the persons parents. In effect, by taking this ruling and position you are saying that you do not have confidence in the parents of your community to make safe and wise choices for their own children, and that you as an administrator at these students point of education, a place where they should be encouraged to learn and experiment and expand their minds knows better, and that if they do not conform to YOUR and a select groups views or vision of what the world should be, then there is no place for them.
In a word, this is sad.
I know that I did not devote 11 years of my life to the service of this great country and her people to see fundamental human rights of free speech and expression taken away from students, young people, the future of this country. If we teach them to be intolerant now, what values will they grow up with...what type of person shall they become? And would YOU want to live next to that person?
While I seriously doubt that this letter will have any affect on your ruling, because I live in a country that allows me free speech, I feel the need to express my opinion to you.
I believe that you, the group involved in the ruling and the school commission have made a great error and have in the end done a disservice to your students and to the members of your community, the province of Ontario, Canada, and the world as a whole.
I hope that within your schools student body people step up and take action to have this rule removed. I will pledge my support to them.
Please, education yourself with regards to this matter, rethink your position, look to your faith and within yourself, and do the proper thing. Strike down this rule that returns personal freedom to a dark and scary place.
Respectfully,
James Green