Tattoos are a form of art. Your body is like a blank canvas and you get to decorate it however you want, and that's pretty amazing. Tattoos aren't for everyone and thugs aren't the only people that get them, so stop tattoo shaming. My tattoo doesn't make me a bad person.

So my question is, what is so bad about having a tattoo and why am I not allowed to work at certain places because of it?

Recently I went into a fast food place to ask for a job application and when the application was handed to me the lady gave me an ugly look and told me I more than likely wouldn't get the job because of my tattoo. She said it was "unprofessional" So I smiled and gladly handed the paper back and walked out.

Well, this is what I have to say about that situation

Let's fast forward a few weeks, I was in a wreck and had to go to the Emergancy Room for neck and shoulder pain. Well guess what, the nurses and doctors had tattoos. Crazy, I know. But their tattoos didn't stop them from taking care of me and everyone else in that hospital. Those tattoos didn't stop them from preforming their jobs to the best of their abilities. Those tattoos didn't change the way that they treated me and everyone else.

My tattoo is very special to me, it's a semi colon with butterfly wings. My tattoo is a recovery tattoo. I was clean from all self harm for over a year so my parents surprised me with letting me get a tattoo for my 17th birthday. It's a daily reminder of how far I've come and helps me get through the days when I feel like going back to my old habits.

My tattoo didn't change the way I treated people, and if it did it was for the better. My tattoo made me feel beautiful. My tattoo made me feel comfortable in my own skin and for someone to tell me that it's unprofessional and "bad for business" made me mad, it hurt a little, and really got me thinking about how a lot of people see tattoos.

There are so many great people in this world that have tattoos and a lot of people only see them as dirty, ugly, unprofessional, uneducated, and mean. But those people with tattoos could be the nicest, smartest, and most professional people you will ever meet, but you wouldn't know that because you can't see past the ink that's in their skin.

Those people with tattoos are the teachers that teach your children, the doctors that keep you healthy and take care of you, the farmers and workers that supply you and your family with food and anything you need. Those people are parents, daughters, sons, aunts and uncles.

So please, tell me again how me having a tattoo will effect the way I treat anybody. I don't see tattoos as unprofessional, I see them as art. Tattoos tell a story of ones past, good or bad, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Why can't I get certain jobs becasue of my tattoo? It's not mean or ugly. It's not inappropriate. It's not going to stop me from being nice to everyone and caring for people I barley know. It's not going to stop me from doing whatever job is thrown at me to the best of my abilities.

I knew when I first got it that I would have to cover it for certain things, but for them to just rudely tell me I wasn't going to get the job made me mad.

Don't shame someone for having tattoos, you don't know their past. Tattoos are very special and usually mean something to the person it's on. Don't downgrade them because you don't like tattoos, you wouldn't want someone telling you that you're favorite thing was ugly or unprofessional. So why do it to other people?

Tattoos are beautiful and to the places that hire regardless of having a visible tattoo, you're the real MVP's