My freshman year of college, my teammates and I were warming up for a double header. During the random conversations that usually go on during a warm up, we mentioned the fact that I have a couple of tattoos. When my coach heard, the first thing she was “You don’t seem the type of person to have a tattoo.” She then went on to say how I seemed to be too kind of a person and that she didn’t think I would ever get one.

Often times I’m seeing people associate tattoos with someone’s personality. Let me begin by saying that a tattoo does NOT define someone. That person simply decided to get a picture, symbol, or phrase on them that they want there forever. Tattoos don’t by any means suggest that you’re any less of a person because of it.

Today, people are still shocked by the fact that I’ve been “inked.” In the meantime, while people have looked at me as less because I have these tattoos, I’d say I’m a very hard worker and quite involved in my community. I’m currently a politics major, with minors in pre-law and criminal justice. No, I’m not a bad person; and yes, I have tattoos. In fact, on top of me being one of the “good guys,” I’m in school to study to become a criminal prosecution attorney. In other words, I’m trying to stop bad guys from doing bad things. On top of it all, many people who have personally judged me for having tattoos don’t understand the meaning to the ones I have.

I got my first tattoo in the August before my freshman year of college. Today, I still think that it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I got “I Hope You Dance” written across the side of my foot. Why? No, not to be stupid and get a tattoo just because. Years before, when my ninth birthday came around it was my first without my grandma, who passed away the month before due to cancer. When she was sick, we’d visit her constantly and every day that we did I'd just sit and hold her hand. She knew she wouldn’t make it to my birthday, so she had my grandpa go out and get me a gift. On my birthday, I opened up a book that explained the lyrics to the song “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack. The best part, my grandma wrote a note in front of the book to me, telling me to never give up on anything.

Tattoos aren’t always meaningless or stupid, and a lot of them actually have sentimental value to the person who got them. It’s simply a work of art that someone is expressive through and sometimes ties to personal values. We shouldn’t judge someone because they made a painting, so why judge someone for getting a tattoo? I’d even go as far to say that people who judge those who have tattoos for being any less are hypocritical.

Society today often says not to judge a book by it’s cover. So why do people who have tattoos that are visible not get the job offer over people who don’t, even when they have better credentials? One of the best articles I’ve ever seen was about a man who was a surgical doctor, saving lives everyday. When he took off his lab coat and stood there in a t-shirt guess what he had? TATTOOS. This man goes to work every day to let people continue to live, yet he feels judged out in public for the simple fact that he has two sleeves of ink. The solution to this is simple: stop associating tattoos with people’s personality.

Some of the kindest people I’ve met have tattoos. In fact, I’d say they’re even more understanding and considerate of others than those who judge them for their ink. They understand where everyone is coming from and consider one another’s own values in relation to their own. Tattoo’s have no correlation with someone’s personality, so let’s stop acting like it.