I’ve been following Ms. Retro Dixie, Jessica Gahring, ever since the first episode of NY Ink and have noticed that she has been taking quite a lot of heat from some other viewers of the show. Mostly the hating seems to be focused on her having the desire to be a tattoo artist instead of just a “shop manager”. I find it rather odd that people would post detrimental things about someone just for having a dream. Would the same be said if she wanted to be say, a doctor or a lawyer?

I’m not sure how much of what we see is played up for television and quite frankly I don’t really care. It just grieves me to see people calling her a whiner whenever she shows any interest in pursuing her career and bettering herself. Haven’t we all been so passionate about something in our lives that we get emotional when roadblocks are thrown up in our pursuit of them? When I see this happen to Jessica and the tears that follow it only reinforces in me the belief that she is going to get there someday.

She already has all the elements necessary to make it happen:

1. She’s a great artist: Have any of the people who have been bashing her taken a look at her art portfolio? Or are your eyes too focused on her wiping away the tears while you cast stones?

2. She’s a dedicated role model: Just listen to the emotion when she talks about her daughter and how she has to travel to NYC for work while her family is upstate.

3. She won’t deviate from course: Even if given the opportunity to pose nude she won’t do it because she wants to be a good role model for her daughter. How can you hate on someone for that?

4. She’s smart: We all know from watching the show that she has a Master’s Degree but I can personally attest to her degree of smart by the battles I’ve lost to her on Words with Friends.

5. She’s always in pursuit: I’ve only ever met Jessica one time in person but I can tell you that just from that one encounter she is genuine. And you will never guess what she was doing when I introduced myself to her. Yup, DRAWING!

So please, stop hating on Jessica. She’s just like you and me. People trying to make their way through this wonderfully insane thing called life. And if you only take one thing away from reading this article I hope that it’s this:

In the end, the only real requirement there is for achieving your dream is having one.

Think about it.