TOTALLY GEEKED!

Dear Prudence,
My sister and I had a lot of the same picture books as kids. (I’m five years older, so I had them first, which is not relevant, but this whole question is super bratty.) A few weeks ago, she got an iconic image from one of those books as a tattoo on her back. Now I’m getting a sleeve that consists of images from my favorite kids’ books. I took the books to the tattoo parlor, and the artist picked out that same image as the perfect one to go right at the top of the sleeve. My sister is furious. I am upset that she is furious, and I want my tattoo as I am currently imagining it. Should I give up the idea? I am legitimately concerned that I will be engraving guilt and resentment into my skin.

—Building Scars

I want to treat this question seriously, because while the stakes might seem faintly ridiculous, the feelings behind them are at least real. (Is the image in question of the Little Prince standing on his home planet? Because if your sister thinks she’s the only one with that tattoo, I invite her to walk into any dive-adjacent bar in the nearest midsize city and ask people to show her their shoulders. She’ll find at least five.) A minor but significant point is that you must not hide behind your tattoo artist’s decision as if it were not your own. You are not being forced to use the same image by a temperamental artistic genius. You merely like it and you want to use it as part of your own tattoo. Which is perfectly fine! But do not pretend as if this decision had not been your own.

My inclination is for you to find another, slightly less iconic image from the same book to complete your sleeve. The image in question isn’t central to your tattoo’s theme, but it’s the only tattoo on your sister’s back. Give way to her just a bit, and do so not begrudgingly but joyfully, and you’ll find that you’ve sacrificed very little and gained a great deal in the way of filial harmony.