Attire

A bit more on the decline of social mores. Clothing. I remember seeing a long-ago picture of my grandmother, with her mother and sister, and they were dressed to the nines! Including a hat to top it all off. I love hats! I wore them to church on Easter up into high school and college. I just think they really finish an outfit. I can remember my grandfather wearing his "Bear Bryant" hat when I was a child. So dapper.

Men still wear hats - ball caps, trucker hats, do rags. Difference is, my grandfather always took his off inside a building. Never would he have dreamed of eating a meal wearing one! You can't get kids to take them off now. Instead of finishing an outfit, a hat is a means to cover up the bed head they have since they didn't get up in time to get ready. Even though it doesn't take too long since they only have to pull their pants up to about mid-thigh. There is never any need to wonder if a young man is a "boxer or brief" guy. The answer is hanging out over the waistband of his pants.

Females are no better. So many of them don't wear enough clothes to even qualify as an outfit. You see more of them than you ever wanted to.

Sad really. And while I would NEVER advocate that a woman was "asking for it" when something terrible happens to her, women do send mixed messages. Look, and look a lot, but don't touch. My husband is flabbergasted on the rare occassions that we go out in a crowd about how young women dress.

And I wonder again, as I have before, when did we (the collective "WE" that is society) say that this behavior is acceptable? What causes us to continue to turn our heads or just ignore it? And how do we turn the bus around? So many of these young people have no idea of the ramifications in the real world. Its harder to get a good job when you aren't dressed appropriately, or don't even know what appropriately is. And the casualness of our appearance can often single casualness (or downright laziness) in other aspects of our world. Is it too late to stop this downhill roll? Or do we have to wait until we hit rock bottom before someone steps up and makes a change.