"Believe’, "Free Yourself’, "Everything happens for a reason’, "Fall seven times, stand up eight’. We have all seen these tattoos one too many times. It more or less goes like this: if a person out of 7 billion gets a quote tattooed, some other 5 billion people gracing Earth will want that same tattoo scribbled on their skin, with a feather added or some birds or anything really. I’m not saying they aren’t attractive, I do like some quotes myself. However I do want you to question whether what you’re getting inked means something to you or not.
I do believe tattoos are a very personal thing. You do not get one on your back for that low back dress you have or one on your hip for that really short shorts you just bought. Obviously you will want to show it off sometimes, it’s human nature, but you should not get inked for the sole purpose of having something to show off, to upload on Facebook or Instagram alongside one million hash tags (#tattoos, #inked, #ink, #tattooed, #freshink, #####).
Tattoos tell a story and it’s no one else’s but your story. It doesn’t really matter if no one understands why you got something in particular inked on yourself as long as you know what’s behind it. That is, I believe, the beauty of getting tattooed — you know the story there is to it that no one else knows. That makes a tattoo personal and it makes it very much your own.
A mistake I feel most of us make is that as soon as we hit eighteen, we want to get inked. We are all like "it’s now or never’. Yet, this might be followed by endless plights of how stupid you were when you were 18 for getting that ridiculous tattoo. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not always how it goes. But it does happen and it’s not a pleasant experience. Tattoos should not be made for the sake of having one because everybody else does. You are not everybody else. Tattoo artists will not all go missing in a day. There is no need to go get inked on the day you turn eighteen.
People will judge you regardless of what you do; don’t mind them. They’ll assign you all kinds of adjectives ranging from drug addict, to rebel, to criminal, to God knows what. But really don’t mind them. If they are dying and you can save their lives they probably won’t refuse the help, even if you’re inked from head to toe. Sadly, yes, we live in a very self-centered and egoistic society.
Many do believe that tattoo taboo is on the decline — I beg to differ. Society’s need to enforce stereotypes has made no move to decline over the years. They must have a say in everything that happens. Society has created this thing called "normal’. But normal is boring, or even, it does not exist. We live in a society where you get people telling you that one or two small tattoos are fine but a whole sleeve is just too much and makes you look like a criminal. Really, what’s the difference? What’s the difference between having one or two or three or a whole body covered in tattoos for what it matters? There’s no difference; if you want to be a criminal you can be one, tattoos or no tattoos.
There is one person who should be happy about your ink and that’s you. People will judge you, let them be. People will stare; give them something to stare at. Tattoos have gone main stream. That does not mean, however, that your tattoo should be like everybody else’s. It does not mean that if your neighbor got a swallow on her back you should get two of them. Ink your story.
