Let me start off by saying that tattoos should not affect someones opinion of another person or that someones job opportunities. Having tattoos and piercings is not unprofessional nor is it regretful. What is unprofessional is turning down an aspiring person and employee due to superficial reasons and not their skill level or experience.

Here is a little bit about me. I am a 19 year-old girl who attends Plymouth State University as an upcoming sophomore, majoring in biology and is aspiring to be a forensic serologist. I am also a 19 year-old girl who has three tattoos. Each tattoo that I have gotten permanently on my body, has a very important meaning to me, and only me, and that's all that matters. None of my tattoos, or anybody else's tattoos, need to have meaning or acceptance from other people.

How does the tattoo(s) on my body affect you? Oh that's right, it doesn't! The choices I make in my life, tattoos or not tattoos, are thought out rationally for me. To be self-confident, you need to be happy in your own skin and not care about what other people think of you. If tattoos make me feel better about myself, then what is the issue here? I have three and I know, for a fact, that I will get more because I am already planning to. But out of all of my tattoos, there isn't one I love more than the other because they all mean the world to me. I wouldn't take them back for a second and I won't regret having them just because someone makes a comment to me about my choices and how they think it's 'wrong'.

"Tattoos are a waste of money."

First of all, what I choose to do with my money is absolutely none of your business nor does it affect you. You may think it's a waste of money but that's why you don't have any tattoos. Clearly, since I have tattoos, I didn't think it was a waste of money so what you just said was a waste of your breath.

"You won't be able to find a job."

If you don't have tattoos and you think that you won't be able to find a job, you are living in the wrong decade. Tattoos are slowly, but surely, becoming more accepted in society when it comes to jobs. I will say that I do agree that some jobs require you to have no tattoos (or to at least have them covered up) and those are the companies that I wouldn't even want to work for. Why would you want to work for a company that cares more about how to look than your skills and education? Tattoos are a beautiful way to express yourself with art and if a company can't see that, I don't want to work for them to begin with. It isn't the tattoos fault that your rights are being infringed upon.

"What will happen when you get pregnant or get old?"

People will always mention to a woman with tattoos on their stomach, or ribs, that it'll stretch out and look terrible when they get pregnant and have kids. I have one tattoo on my back hip that might stretch out a little bit when I get pregnant but when I got that tattoo, I didn't think "oh I shouldn't get this because it's gonna stretch when I get pregnant one day". Yes, your tattoos might stretch when you get pregnant or might fade and wrinkle when you age, but don't let that stop you. Life is too short to think about why you shouldn't do things, think about why you should.

For example, I had just broken up with my boyfriend who cheated on me so I thought "I am resilient and I am going to get this tattoo right now." Not only is this just a tattoo, but it is a reminder of what I have been through and have come back from. Even though it is small, it has unbelievable meaning to me and that's all that matters to me. My second tattoo is my mother's handwriting on my forearm saying "Follow Your Dreams" with a date in roman numerals for when she took me to the number one place on my bucket-list. My third tattoo, which won't be my last, is a unalome, which is a Buddhist symbol for the path to enlightenment and finding happiness.

I will never regret my tattoos, no matter what anyone says, and I will never let anyone stop me from getting more. Let me just ask you one question if you have told someone that they will regret their tattoos, do you judge a book by it's cover? If so, why do you judge a person by how they look? White, black, hispanic, tattoos or no tattoos, people deserve to be treated equally. All lives matter so we should start acting like it.