Yesterday I had the privilege of going out to dinner with a former student of mine who is now in college. He was telling me about a discussion he’d had with some of his friends on the pros and cons of getting body piercings.

Some people were all for it, and some people were very much against it. Apparently the strongest reason against getting piercings was this: “If you get your eyebrow pierced and then it gets infected, it will look like you have face herpes.”

“Wow. I’m so glad I’m 34,” I said.

“Yeah,” replied my friend (who is 19). “Because when you’re 34, you probably don’t use ‘herpes’ as any kind of measuring standard.