Last week I posted the picture above on my Facebook wall. As one can imagine it sent off a lively discussion about that is right and what is wrong. Most of the comment that was written had to do with how it makes the boys feel seeing a girl walking around dressed in a certain way. Well, I am not sure about you, but it seems that is the fault of the boy and not the girl. I used this analogy. If I walk into a store, and no one is around, and I take something off the shelf and walk out with it, have I stolen something or is it the fault of the shop keeper for leaving it out there in the first place? I hope we would all agree that I am at fault. Teaching young men to respect a young lady is what we are supposed to do not blame the girl for how she is dressed.
The next common objection had to do with this sense of common decency. Well, as the title suggests, common decency is not so common. Each generation has had to deal with changes in fashion, hair length, piercing, tattoos, etc. and this generation is no different. I am not sure where the common denominator is in the argument.
It was not that long that a woman could not wear pants to an office job, she had to wear a skirt. There was also a time when it was unheard of for men to be seen in public not wearing a hat on their heads or in church without a tie and jacket. I do not hear loud cries for that be restored. Common is just that common and what is accepted by the masses. Sure I think it would be nice if men continued to wear hats and ties, but that is not the reality of today’s population.
The popular saying “Make America Great Again” needs to come with some caveat. Each thing that we think made American great, by the way, I think America is pretty great right now, was not so great for someone else. Should we go back to when women could not vote or how about going back to when they were considered property? How about the times when black folks could not eat at the same counter or drink from the same water fountain. Was that the great time of America? The greatness of America is that she is always changing, each generation envisions what America is, and that is the way it should be.
