what's in a piercing?

so I pierced my nose on friday. I thought it would look nice. I've always wanted to put an extra hole in my face, and hell why not on the nose? So I did and knowing how my mother feels about the situation, went ahead with my plans and put a stud in there. Feeling a bit guilty that my parents are coming up to visit this weekend and I do not want them to have a heart attack once they get here, I decided to just tell them on the phone. Lesson well learned. I think my parents are in the process of taking all my pictures out of the family albums. My dad, in his regular screaming fashion told me that I am not an Indian and that only crazy people and punks pierce their face. Another lesson well learned: become an Indian before altering anything on your face. For the sake of my parents I think I will take it out. But I just don;t understand where this animosity is coming from. My parents would not react like this if I told them I was pregnant. Which is kind of sad. I know they were brought up in a different culture and they are not exposed to different kinds of people the way I am here in SF where it is typical with someone with tattoos all over their body to be nanny. But I still do not understand why I am getting the silent treatment from my mom. As if I am being taught some lesson, but in what? We should have gone over this when I was 15, and now that I think about it I gave them a pretty easy time as an adolescent. I don't do drugs, have promiscuous sex, waste their money, gamble, or wear the clothes my grandmother offers me. I actually feel offended. Here I am in my pursuit to becoming a psychologist, a person who tries to understand the premise of judgment, stereotype, and prejudice. I want to become a person who can relate to different types of people and help them feel good about who they are. And here are my parents telling me the complete opposite. Telling me that looks matter. That people will think I am a "punk". And so what? What does punk really mean? If it means that I am non judgmental and open minded then fine! I think this is more than just a stupid piercing. I think its control. The fact that I am 21 will never change for my parents. Be I 31 or 41, I suppose they always want to be influential in some way. So I am going to take the damn thing out. Most of it is because as long as I am dependent on my parents I will play by their rules. But this time I am not letting them raise their flag because I feel guilty for what I have done (I do not), I just don't have the nerves or the desire to argue about some juvenile matter.