17 People Who Wear Their Tattoo With Dignity Thanks to a Vivid Story Behind It

“Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past,” Jack London wrote. Some people tend to criticize tattoos saying that it’s not right to have a permanent drawing on your body that will stay with you for your entire life. But sometimes we just feel that we have to memorialize a certain event or person, or it’s our way of self-expression.

At Bright Side, we were curious to not just look at the tattoos from the heroes of this article, but also to learn the stories behind them. Some of these tattoos will make you smile, while others will move you to tears.

1. 2 sisters got matching tattoos, so the brother decided to keep up.

2. “We covered a girl’s scar with a so-called band-aid. And to make it more heart warming, we attached flowers to it.”

3. “This memorial tattoo for our babies with the happy date — when we heard their heartbeats and found out they were twins.”

4. “A couple of weeks ago I finished donating my second gallon of blood. Today, I got my tracker updated.”

5. “I just got my first tattoo in memory of my dog that I lost a few months ago. It’s a play on the Wish You Were Here album cover by Pink Floyd.”

6. This guy tattooed all his passport stamps.

7. “After nearly 3 years together, my boyfriend and I decided to end our relationship. But not before getting matching tattoos to celebrate our journey together.”

“I’ve been obsessed with The Lord of the Rings for most of my life. The tattoo traces the part of the trail that Frodo and Aragorn travel together. My boyfriend and I were very much in love, he supported me, and he gave more than I thought possible for another person to give. But like Frodo and Aragorn, it was eventually time to go our separate ways. Not because we stopped loving each other, but because we both had different paths to walk. I’m so happy I got to experience such deep love, even if that meant a painful end. On to the next chapter.”

8. “I just defended my PhD studying antibodies and thought I should celebrate with a little antibody tattoo of my own.”

9. “I wanted to honor my birth givers!”

10. “My 77-year-old grandma just got her first tattoo! She said it didn’t hurt at all.”

11. “Someone reached out to me asking if they could get a color realism tattoo of one of the cross foxes I’ve photographed. Here is the result.”

12. “I got an amazing cover-up of my old cherry tattoo. My late best friend called me ’Feather,’ so it means the absolute world to me.”

13. “I got this tattoo in memory of my father.”

14. “A complete stranger and I got tattoos of each other’s face.”

“I wanted to do an experiment to see if it would be possible to get someone to do this with me, and if I could make a genuine friendship out of the experience!”

15. “My wife’s simple but meaningful tattoo. Our son was 10.5 inches at birth.”

16. If you really want it, it’s never too late.

17. “I got a tattoo with my siblings!”

Do you have a tattoo? Is there an interesting story behind it? Tell us in the comments below.