I have never been good at art.

Seriously. I attempted art all through middle school, and to my dismay, my passion was not met with results. Frankly, I sucked. Regardless of that fact, I still loved and admired art. Now that love has shifted to a different type of art: tattoos.

I have two tattoos so far but am planning on getting only 100 more soon. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I still want a hell of a lot. I find tattoos to be so expressive, artistic and beautiful. Each tattoo symbolizes a part of that person, whether it was a time in their life when they were especially down and needed a little help, or perhaps they wanted to remember a special event or person, or perhaps the design was something they just found exquisite; whatever it may be, the tattoo will tell you so much about who this person is.

What I don't understand is how so many people can not see the beauty in the self-expression of tattoos. For example: My mother is completely against tattoos, to the point where I pretended that my first tattoo was self-drawn via stencil and sharpie and I just kept redrawing it for months; I kept it up until she finally sat me down and said, "That's a tattoo, isn't it? I'm not stupid, ya know." She believes they look super unprofessional, even dirty, and they are somehow typical of those who are lesser in life. That stance is held by many people of older generations- I'm often told that it'll be difficult for me to find work with my tattoos (granted I hear this most often at my job so go figure!).

To be fair, I agree to some extent. Face and neck tattoos can quickly become extreme, and in my personal opinion, they do not look good. However, I understand that it was what that person wanted, and if they like the way it looks, then they should rock their tattoos. They should not be denied jobs or judged because they chose to express themselves in a different way from what is considered normal. It's not fair to them.

To me, all tattoos are beautiful. They could be gotten on a whim, like my first one, or thought out for years and years before. Either way, they are precious and important and should always be treasured.

I mean, what does it say about me that the biggest problem I have is coordinating where I want to put all the giant quotes and LOTR symbols?

It says everything.