If you’ve ever thought about getting a tattoo, there’s a good chance you’ve heard this sort of sentiment from a guardian or adult in your life.

The tattoo dilemma has become as prevalent of a dinner table argument in American households with young adults as any other for our generation. And as the times have changed, so have the number of those young adults who get one anyway.

According to a recent Harris Poll Default/Default.aspx of 2,016 U.S. adults, one in five people (21 percent) have at least one tattoo — a jump up from the 14 percent recorded in 2008.

Our generation actually is the least inked (22 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds) of any of the age groups younger than 50 years old — probably because of the limited time frame we’ve had to make the decision to ink up.

So what’s with all the flak from your parents, you might ask? Our best indicator probably lies with the spike in data recorded by the poll for adults younger than 50, as each age group at least doubled the percentage (11 percent) of adults older than 50 who reported having at least one tattoo.

Much to their chagrin, as the baby boomers have grown up, tattoo culture in America has steadily popularized.

With newspapers and magazines saving space for ink on the happenings of the lives of celebrities, it’s hard to go a week without stumbling upon an article about Justin Bieber’s latest tattoo.

Television series, such as “Ink Master,” “Best Ink” and “Tattoo Highway,” are just a few of the selections offered that also have helped popularize those who get them and those who create them. It’s become a story to find an NBA or NFL star without a single tattoo to show.

For a society that largely discourages visible tattoos in professional settings, it sure seems to laud those who show them off.

Maybe this is why the baby boomers have been so adamant to curb the trend with their children. Despite their persuasion, it’s likely that as we continue to mature into working adults, their definition of what a tattoo says about you will continue to dissipate.

As more young adults are taking the liberty of heading to tattoo parlors, plenty also are choosing their ink placement wisely.

I have seen friends and family both younger and older than me make the choice to get a tattoo in recent years, but all have opted to display their art privately.

Creativity and professionalism don’t have to interfere with one another.

Regardless of what you might have been led to believe, tattoos no longer serve as an indication of your race or socioeconomic background. The Harris Poll reported fairly even distribution among races, with 20 percent of whites, 21 percent of blacks and 30 percent of Latinos reporting at least one tattoo. It’s become just as ignorant to call someone a criminal for having a tattoo as it would to do so based on the color of their skin.

I was, like many others, raised in a household with two parents with no tattoos and under the idea that getting one wouldn’t ever help me get a job.

However, as I’ve grown up, I’ve found that plenty of people I’d never expected to have one actually do, and that the choice to get one wasn’t necessarily as easy as it’s made out to be for them; that their tattoo wasn’t a declaration of independence, but instead a physical part of their being — something that defined them just as much as the mole on their leg or the scar on their arm.

Every person has a story. This is something I have learned to keep in mind when meeting new people. That the way you present yourself can sometimes be confusing to someone who knows nothing about the path that has led you.

Although some people still will get tattoos to serve as a decoration for their skin, many people get tattoos because they are a symbolic reminder of the obstacles or triumphs that have littered the trail of their life.

As we prepare to enter the work world with college degrees, we will be tested to prove if we have learned enough from our lives as students to excel in our professions.

Whatever it is that you’ve endured to make it there will largely define how you handle the rest of your life, so why should you be ashamed of it?

Michael Briggs is a guest columnist at The State News and a journalism senior. Reach him at briggsm3@msu.edu.