If it seems a little ridiculous, good. That's the title of this blog after all.I love the new styles. The oversized trousers and baggy shirts remind me of the photos I have seen of "zoot suits" that were fashionable with young people before WWII. They went out of style when cloth rationing came as part of the war effort. But, some of these things have their disadvantages. For example, there is this quote from the Houston Chronicle from July 23 of this year:
"Police say an 18 year-old carjacker approached August Peters, 74, as he exited his vehicle. "Give me your car or I'll kill you," the carjacker said, putting a knife to Peter's throat. Luckily for Peters, he had an item that made him the physical equal of his youthful adversary -- a firearm. Peters grabbed his pistol from inside the car and fired, striking the carjacker at least once. The suspect fled through a nearby home, struggling to run in his baggy pants, which fell off in the kitchen as he ran for the back door. Police caught up with the pantless suspect nearby."
The title of this particular blog applies to that and to those silly fashions which insist that a man's underwear show over his trousers. The super baggy pants and shorts remind me of a baby whose diaper is full. They hang in that suggestive way and I smile. Youth will out, they say. The quote says that isn't all that will out.
The fact is, we're a pretty silly race, us humans. I suspect that is one of the reasons the Gods haven't just given up and started over. Look at all the fuss we get into as a result of sex. A man and a woman or two of either sex take a look at what is available to them, make a choice then decide whether to marry or live together. Before long one or the other or both start looking around again. They often decide that a little variety in partners is what the doctor ordered. It's decisions that let divorce lawyers get rich and fill the dockets of the civil (not really) courts. So we don't know our own minds. And most of the time, we don't take the time to explore inside ourselves to find out if we're really in love forever or just looking for a little security and love.
Even those couples who don't cheat and stay together (after all, infidelity is only one of the reasons for divorce) have trouble communicating with each other. Those troubles have given comics almost infinite material to make us laugh or at least grin sympathetically. If it isn't communication problems, it's the insecurity of one partner or both that makes for fights and someone ending up sleeping on the couch instead of next to their partner of choice.
We get terribly excited about things that haven't happened yet. We grab a small slice of something and make it into a huge to do. Look at the health care arguments that are currently in the media. I have to ask myself if any of the people shouting in meetings have read the proposed legislation. I tried, but the darned thing is over a thousand pages long. I'm not a lawyer. Neither am I endlessly patient with legalese. So I, like most of us have to make do with what people tell me is in the bill. When I get two or three or a dozen different takes on what's there, I get confused.
It's the same about our president. Folk are accusing others, who disagree with one or more of his statements, of being prejudiced against blacks. (Oh, is that politically okay? I know that negro is absolutely out and that African American is better. By the way, everyone with dark skin isn't African or American. So label me insensitive. If it isn't a really insulting epithet, it should be inoffensive.) Unhappily, there are people around who are prejudiced against anyone whose skin is darker (or lighter) than their own. Another example of ridiculous.
But my favorite example of "what you say?" is computers and cell phones. How many times have you asked yourself, "why do I have to press the off button to turn this thing on?"
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