Tattoos. What a controversial thing. Even in this day and age, tattoos can still automatically grant someone a job or take it away. The number of tattoos you have and their location also can determine how "shady" of a person you are and whether or not someone crosses the street when they see you.
I have one tattoo. Even that was a stretch for my family.
Mine is deeply meaningful and significant to myself, my cousin I got it with, and my family in general. Even those in my family who hate tattoos are still moved by it. However, I do not want this to be my last. If it were up to me, I would cover my entire body. Well, maybe not my entire body. I wouldn’t put anything on my face, neck, and lower legs, but that’s about it.
But I can’t.
And I never will be able to.
Because having even a single tattoo in a visible location will jeopardize potential business opportunities I could be building in my future career.
I guess I could cover my torso and arms, but then that would drastically limit the outfits I could wear in my professional setting. Heaven forbid someone sees an expensive piece of artwork that I paid hundreds for. Normally anyone would love to see that, just not when it’s on my body.
But let’s be real. It’s 2018. With all of the social movements and changes, we’ve become SO accepting as a society. Why don’t we accept tattoos yet? We have moved past so many superficial and physical things, yet we are still caught up on tattoos. Maybe if we viewed the concept of a tattoo more holistically it would be more generally accepted.
I think there is something rather beautiful about permanent markings on your body. Whether someone was 18 or 48 when they decided to ink their body permanently, they still did it. They permanently decorated their body with something, whether they will always love it or not.
In a single instant, they found that a given piece was important enough to grace their body forever. Whether it was a lover’s name, their favorite animal, or a memorial tattoo, SO many people across the world can be connected through the simple fact that they have at least one tattoo.
You all endured the pain of that needle through the layers of your skin by a stranger. You all felt the rush of adrenaline, then the moment of “Oh wow what did I just do?”, then the best part: the (hopefully) joy of the reveal.
Tattoos are life-changing. And that’s why they need to be respected. Good or bad, they become a part of someone. And everyone deserves to be loved, regardless of their physical appearances. That’s something we do really well as a society in many aspects, so let’s extend that.
We are color blind, so why can’t we extend the color scheme from black, white, tan, and many others to include the variety of ink colors?