It was an ordinary day. Sitting in my recliner, getting ready to type another story for all to read. Dressed as I usually do when no one is around and can see what I might be wearing. Something casual, if at all possible. Perhaps PJ's if it's earlier in the day. This past week I had a decision to make about what I would wear when I went to the funeral of a good friend and co-worker who had recently died. Should I get dressed in a suit and tie...or should I dress more casual? I had plans to go to the funeral with another friend and questioned him when I called to see what he might be wearing to the funeral. We decided that we would wear dress pants and shirt, but no tie and jacket. At least that's what I thought I heard when we talked on the phone. So...I wore a pair of good trousers with a white shirt and sweater and a good pair of shoes. No jacket necessary ...so I thought. When I stopped to pick him up a few hours later, he came to the door in a suit with black shirt and tie! Wow!! I said, "I thought we weren't wearing ties." He decided that he looked better with the tie, so he wore one. He did look great, but I was just hoping that not everyone would appear at the funeral with a tie. And, boy was I right! I'll bet that over two-thirds of the men in attendance had no tie. Many even were wearing jeans! To me, that's a bit disrespectful, but that's just how I feel. Today's dress code is totally different than it was just a year or so ago. Due to Covid, many things changed. Since most people didn't venture out during the past couple of years, it wasn't important to be dressed up in suit and tie or even nice dress shirt and pants. Seems that the dress code has changed dramatically in the past year or so. Actually, I'll bet that there were only a dozen or so men among the 50 or so who were wearing a shirt and tie. I didn't think to look at their footwear, but I'll bet a few might have been wearing sneakers. Since most everyone worked from home or didn't need to worry about what they wore, very few people dressed up when they got out of bed in the morning. As I sat in my church pew with my friend, I wondered how many people will continue to dress casually all the time from now on. And...does it really matter? Will God get upset if most of the people in the congregation aren't dressed in suit and tie? Perhaps he might be happy that people will feel more relaxed when coming to church. Well, the funeral was very respectful and everyone participated in all the prayers and songs and looked as if they felt more at ease without having to be dressed as in the past. Perhaps the "new" look for those in attendance might be the new trend for churchgoers. When arriving back at home I grabbed my mail and found one of my favorite magazines had arrived; The Saturday Evening Post. As I began to leaf through the magazine I came upon a story on page 28 titled "It's Time The Tie Died." In bright red ink was a sentence that read..."Not only does it not matter what you wear while you work from home, it generally does't matter what you wear to work anywhere." Story went on to say that the gentleman's hat had been dying a slow death since the end of the 1920s and now it's time to get rid of the tie. Time to change to the turtleneck and flip-flops. Not sure if I agree to both of those for a new change, but a more casual look might be in order in the future. My only regret is that didn't happen years and years ago. I taught high school Industrial Arts (shop to most of you) for 35 years and was required to wear a shirt and tie at all times. Would have loved to have been able to wear jeans and shirt around all the equipment we used in the shop. Perhaps teachers will now be able to dress accordingly when teaching shop classes. Who will really care? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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