Never judge a book by its cover, and this shall serve as a solid reminder regardless of where we are or who we encounter.
Recently, a Malaysian tattoo artist and a YouTuber, Hishiko, took to her Instagram account and shared her experience of being judged by a random uncle on the street. As a tattoo artist, it’s not surprising for her to have her skin covered with tattoos. But the uncle whom she met at a petrol station is not fond of what he had to see.
‘I don’t like tattoos!’
The uncle expressed his dissatisfaction with the tattoos on Hishiko’s skin, to which she politely replied,
‘Uncle, it’s fine if you don’t like it, but can you at least respect my career? My husband and I are both tattoo artists, we have our own studio where we conduct tattoo classes.’
Still, that did not convince the uncle to respect Hishiko, to which he said, ‘I don’t like it! Why are you doing this to your body?’
Hoshiko started to get mad but that was when her husband appeared, and the uncle took a 360-degree turn where he apologised to the couple before getting into his car and leaving the petrol station.
‘Respect is all I expect’
In the 3-minute clip, Hishiko then went on and explained that she has always expected minor judgment, especially from the elderly about the tattoos on her skin.
‘You don’t have to like us, but please just respect us. Have we done anything bad? Have we stolen anything from anyone?’ Hishiko asked rhetorically.
She then continued and said, ‘I’m not your daughter or granddaughter, why should you say anything if you don’t like what you see?’
What elevated her anger was the fact that the more she was polite towards the uncle, the ruder he was to her, until her husband appeared and asked ‘What’s the matter?’
In the caption of her post, Hishiko, who has 10 years of experience in the tattoo industry assured the people that she has never encouraged underage youth to apply tattoos on their skin, nor has she forced anyone into ‘imprinting’ the tattoos on their body.
She has never expected anyone to change their mind about tattoo artists, but a respect would’ve sufficed. You can listen to the full clip here.
Getting your body inked may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Hishiko’s reminder should be enough to inform people that we have no right to judge something, or someone simply because we don’t like what we see.
