That's right. My HOPS for the nursing school just got a whole new direction. This is what I wanted to do approximately two hours ago: stand up in the middle of a lecture, state very clearly and out loud that I have no interest none whatsoever to act against my own principles (to fit the school's views of a matter that even has nothing to do with my abilities of being a good nurse), bid everyone farewell and leave.
According to one of my teachers, the image people have of a nurse does not include tattoos, especially visible ones. She just calmly told me not to have any more tattoos and actively hide the one I have on my wrist. HIDE IT!!! And all this to protect the bone-headed people who rather cling to their irrationational stereotypes and prejudices than THINK!
I'm willing to modify myself and my behaviour if it has a *r e a s o n a b l e* justification or a *l o g i c a l* health explanation. But I will not take to bear the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal Syndrome! I refuse to stick my head in the sand and pretend! My tattoos, visible or not, are not a health threat to anyone since they are all done by a professional. By agreeing to hide it is to go with the unintelligible majority who fail to realise that in order to change people's attitude and misconceptions, one must actively do something about it and inform them, goddamit! And that, people, is bullshit.
By passively ignoring this unjustified unequality we accept it. If someone tells me to hide my tattoo because some older woman at a nursing home decides that I worship the devil and do drugs solely based on the fact that I have a tattoo... that is discrimination. Next time the older lady may decide that because a male nurse is gay, he *must* have HIV and other diseases and is thus not allowed to come anywhere near her. If the powers that be want to close their eyes from all this and go along with these illusions, they are accepting this discrimination.
I will not.
- - -
"Hope is a desert running dry
Deep inside
You refuse to face the facts
But pray for life
Find salvation in distress
We will wait
For the day you'll break out and
Re-awake
And we wait for the day
To discover there's no way
I can't wait at this rate
It's too little and too late
To live this lie"
'Living a Lie' by Epica
