Many people today still hold a stigma about tattoos. That tattoos are bad and only bad people have them. That you will never be able to get a good job if you have any. it is time that this stereotype is changed. I am all for being professional and classy but just because you have tattoos it does not mean that you can not be those things. Many times it has been said that your body is a temple. Now if your body is a temple, why would it be wrong to decorate the walls?

I use my tattoos as physical representations of my soul. They are outlets of expression. Just like jewelry or graphic T-shirts. I have a theory that I want to be able to be read like a book if the person who cared to look at my tattoos was intelligent enough to understand them. Or who took the time to talk to me about them without judgment. Tattoos have other positive qualities other than just looking cool.

Tattoos have been around for many years. There are even some religions that use them for spiritual use. In the celtic pagan religion one of the ways they believed the soul could be healed and restored was by manipulating the frame of the body. A few examples of this is exercise, prosthetics, and yes tattoos. This frame of thought is still being used today. I have heard of examples of people who have a past of depression, or a history of self harm using tattoos as healthy and beautiful way to overcome those issues.

The semicolon project is an example of how tattoos are helping people with self harm. Many people who are brave enough to show the world that they have had or are still overcoming such problems as depression or self harm. Many others have also used tattoos to cover up old cut wounds.

After hearing all of these powerful ways that tattoos can do good for people. How can anyone still hate tattoos and people who get them. It is time to end this stereotype on people who are brave enough to have physical representations of who they are on display for the world to see. There are plenty of other evils in this world, maybe it's time stop creating new evils.