Tattoos

Walking down the street in San Francisco the other day I noticed a sad hobbling man.  His ankles were swollen, his feet were too deformed to have real shoes so he wore rubber swim booties instead.  As he ever so slowly crossed the street I took note of his tattoos and thought about how they were probably markers of a better time.  His shabby clothes and mussed appearance made him look truly down on his luck.  Just as I let out a small sigh of pity I noticed a flash of blue and red on his calf... it's Shephard Fairey!  Rather, it's Shepherd Fairey's famous Obama poster, on this guy's calf.

So this fellow within this past year paid a couple hundred dollars for a three color tattoo.

Money that could have been spent on medicine, healthy food or orthopedic shoes was spent on a tattoo. 

I'm still not sure what to think about it.   Appearances are deceptive, perhaps my impressions of how badly this fellow is doing were wrong.  Perhaps his priorities are as twisted as I imagine.  Perhaps he has a tattoo artist friend who did it for free... all possibilities make my head spin a bit.