I'm not claiming to be a super knowledgeable about tattoos by any means, but I have been dating a tattooist for six months and therefore I've had a lot of conversations about good and bad tattoos, and here's my two cents... I'm not bashing you, I'm giving you my honest criticism.
I like the concept. The idea that things go much deeper and often have much more to them than they first appear to is very cool. However, I think the actual tattoo is bad, and I think eventually you'd regret it. First of all, from an artistic standpoint, it's EXTREMELY top heavy and simply wouldn't look good on a person. You could possibly modify it, but I think that your idea in general is gonna be very hard to make an aesthetically pleasing tattoo out of. Some designs look great on paper, and suck on skin.
Secondly, I know it's just a sketch, but it takes up a lot of space for something that is very basic. You could do a lot more with the flower, and the roots... I donno, whether or not you really want to cover that much of your body with bland roots is really what I'm getting at.
Third, it is a flower... sans roots, would you get a flower inked on to your shoulder? Think about it... As for people saying it will go to hell real fast are right to some extent, but there are a lot of tattoos that have a much greater risk for that. You shouldn't factor this into your decision at all.
Other things to consider...
Getting a tattoo that has meaning to you is overrated. You shouldn't base your decision as to what tattoo you get on whether or not it means something to you unless it REALLY means something to you. Although you do have a cool concept there, it's far from unique or inspired. In fact, it's an idea that's been drilled into our heads constantly from the first day kindergarten. "Don't judge a book by its cover", yadda yadda. When I say get something that REALLY means something to you, I mean like a memorial for a friend who died. Or a personal motto that no one else really shares. Not a glorified version of "everybody's special", whether or not it is an ideal you hold dear. You should get a tattoo because it's fucking badass. You should get a tattoo so that when you're 85 and some nurse is wiping your ass, she'll see it and think "Oh! This guy used to have some youthful energy back in his day. That's really cool". You should get something that looks fucking rad.
Don't go to the super popular tattoo parlor, even if they do supposedly have "the best tattooist". Those tattoo shops with flash everywhere, premade bullshit tattoos, that kinda thing, are generally manned by burnt out artists who are doing it for the money. Tattooing is a job, but it's also a passion. A tattoo is very intimate, and it shouldn't be reduced to dollars and cents. If your tattooist is pushy, or says he'll come back to you with a drawing but won't sit down with you, or gets upset when you don't like what he came up with, etc., he really doesn't care what your tattoo looks like. He just wants money and a picture for his portfolio. Go to a place where someone is gonna sit down, listen to your ideas, and craft something that BOTH of you are proud of. Something unique and awesome.
Good luck man. I'm sure you'll come up with something rad. If you live near Burlington give me a shout and I'll hook you up with someone who will sit down with you for 3-4 hours designing something really fucking awesome. She'll give you a great price too. Hope it works out for ya either way.