Growing up, I always wanted to get a tattoo.
I would always be sitting and drawing extremely horrible excuses for ideas of what I would want, and I would search site, after site, after site looking for ones that I would like, and could base mine off of.
When I turned 18 I got my first tattoo, a small quote on my right bicep saying, "take everything, hold on to what's good." However, as soon as I had posted a picture of it, I was met with people either criticizing or thinking they could tell me something that they would do that would make it better.
Since then, I've added a few more tattoos to my collection and I'm still met with the same questions.
1."Oh, why would you do that to your body?"
This one is the one I hear the most. It usually comes from the older generations, the grandparents, or the friends' parents, and if you have parents who are a bit older, they say it too.
Each time I'm asked this, the only response I can think of is, "Do what?" and yes, I obviously know what they're talking about, but I don't see it as anything bad or inappropriate. I see it as a work of art that I'll forever be able to look at and be reminded of a time in my life that is important to me, and I wanted to make it permanent.
2. "Why not just take a picture of it?"
This is a famous one that my dad always says to me when I talk about adding another tattoo, and I always give him the same answer: Because a picture can fade, get lost or destroyed, but with this, all I need to do is listen to the hum of that tattoo machine, and I know my memory is being brought back.
3. "What do you think you'll look like when you're older?"
My immediate internal response is "Well, I'm going to look like a badass tattooed old man, with a ton of stories to tell, what will you look like?"
But of course, in today's culture especially, I can't say that, because someone will get upset. So instead, I just smile and say, "I love them, and will love them till I get that age."
4. "You'll never get a job with those."
Why would I never be able to get a job?
Yes, I know it may limit my options from 100 percent since there will always be some companies that do not want tattoos and consider them unprofessional, but we are in a much more progressive culture, and more and more people who are working in the "white collar" job market are coming out with tattoos, and it's no longer becoming a "kiss of death" within the workplace, as long as it's a classy tattoo.
Most likely, having "f*ck you" on your forehead wouldn't go over so well.
Since my body art will always have a meaning, and not some drunken night getting a smiley face on my butt, it'll always have meaning to me.
So, regardless of what anyone says or thinks, I'll always love being able to look at the tattoos I have and think back to why I wanted to get them in the first place.
