We’ve probably all heard it before, “You’re going to regret getting that tattoo when you grow older!” Well, what if I don’t? What if maybe, just maybe, I love my tattoo when I’m older? There are plenty of reasons people do not regret tattoos.

Most often when someone decides to permanently ink their skin, it is for a good reason. Sure, there are plenty of people who get tattoos just to have them, but most often when someone gets a tattoo it is because it means something to them. Take my tattoo, for example. I got a tattoo that looks like it is the most random thing someone could put on their body. However, it is a symbol that means “dream” in a language taken from my favorite television show, “Doctor Who,” and the quote around it states, “I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams.” Not only does this tattoo mean a lot to me because I myself have learned to shoot for the stars and to dream that anything is possible, but it is spoken through the words of my favorite television show character.

Now, in the future, will I regret this tattoo? No. This tattoo resembles who I am. Yes, maybe I will think, “Why did I choose Doctor Who?”, but that is in no way regretting my tattoo. The meaning stays the same, no matter how I chose to reflect it.

Tattooing is a form of art. Not everyone can draw or make music, so they express themselves through pictures on their body. Where music may speak for me or art may speak for a painter, tattoos may speak for the guy you saw walking down the street with an arm full of ink. They express their feelings and themselves through tattoos, and I don’t think anyone will convince me that they regret their decision.

Okay, we all see those horror stories about someone getting drunk and getting an unwanted tattoo, but have you also heard about how they turned it into a beautiful work of art? There are two things you can do if you wake up one day to an unwanted tattoo. Get it removed, which I do not recommend because it is said to be very painful. Or you can make it into something you will love the rest of your life. Don’t let one bad night ruin your body, make it something great.

There is one last thing everyone says about why not to get a tattoo, it will sag and look gross when you’re old. Okay, so what? Your skin will age, you will age, but that doesn’t mean that tattoo on your arm doesn’t mean anything. It’s a story to tell your grandchildren. Show them what it was like to live when you were young. Don’t regret getting the tattoo, that is just foolish.

I will argue with people over and over to prove why getting a tattoo is not foolish. They can believe it, or they can’t, but it won’t stop me from getting more.