What we wear or how we adorn ourselves is something that is strictly personal. Unless someone sponsors you, like professional car drivers, what we wear or how we appear in public is “our business”. Peer pressure can be a factor as well. Brand name apparel is something that has made inroads to the general public market whether sports shoes or clothing. A brand name or logo that is obvious and unique is the key. Years ago a little alligator (on a shirt) “said something” about the wearer; more recently the names Dockers, Levi’s, Nike represent millions in endorsements because of a little slash of a pen or a unique logo. Countless thousands of “just plain people” who will never get a dime for wearing a shoe that cost them $100 (or more) or jeans with a literal advertisement on their back side are walking billboards. They do it without any remuneration except a position in a peer group. Clothing is a mere drop in the bucket to such advertisement and marketing ploys. Just take notice of auto logo decals common people purchase to apply to their windshields or other prominent places on their vehicles. Some people apparently like to be noticed.

As a young boy I picked up on noticing apparel and for some reason, specifically the belt loops on the trousers of commercial bus drivers. Exactly when these thoughts began I cannot recall but there was a time I vividly remember being impressed by the kind of belt loops on men’s trousers. The real wide, or really long kind, that looked like a flat tunnel the belt had to be guided through to fit around the waist. Most belt loops I had on my trousers (pants as we called them as a boy) were a very narrow or thin variety that maybe required five or six at the most to guide your belt through. If you missed one or more you belt would slip up above your waist, which made you look sloppy. Those single and thin belt loops would often become loosened. Those long belt loops caught my eye -- to me, they were just neat.

What other recollections go through our minds as we boys grew up are as varied as the number of areas from which we came. Seeing how far you could spit would be pretty high on the list I am sure. How soon you grew body hair – you know, under your arms and another private place, and the lack of it would be embarrassing when you went to the public swimming pool and undressed before everyone. Undressing at the school gym could be traumatic if you were late in maturing. I remember once going into a cornfield and pulling out that hair like corn silk and poking it under my arms and exclaiming, “Look, I got hair under my arms!” How dumb and futile such an idea seems now. Body hair and all that fit my mind (and others I’m sure) as to why it even exists, came to my mind early as one of the mysteries of life. But I digress.

Is all this some kind of rite of passage from youth to manhood? A rite of passage exists in our modern society whether we prefer to admit it or not; but it seems innate in our minds and no level of literacy will let the matter slip by without some kind of mention. Our current society (I say current because it will certainly change if we live long enough to notice) dived back into civilizations and cultures of centuries past to bring up tattoos of a unique kind – literal works of art. They call it body art now; that is probably because it has advamced beyond tattoos of recent decades and those of the deepest African or Outback jungles in Australia, India or whatever country. Extending the lips by gradually inserting bigger and bigger foreign objects into the mouth until the lips look like a saucer or putting objects through the nose or the ear lobes may be the body art. Somehow the larger lip idea was skipped and jewel-like posts are put through the lip or nose in modern body art. Such adornment used to be reserved for the primitive natives from the countries just mentioned or other civilizations we read about in the National Geographic. This kind of body art was just not the same as seeing a few tattoos on the arms or chests of sailors or soldiers – this was big time change. There is a show on cable TV by the name of “Miami Ink” and the viewer is introduced to a level of tattoo art that is no less than spectacular and even photo quality art is being engraved on bodies.

Females have picked up the rite of passage from boys to become like men as well. Just as women picked up smoking, it simply became acceptable and even sociable for women to “light up”. Now you see tattoos on women in the oddest places on their bodies. Is there something that needs to be proven with such adornments?

The only thing permanent is change. An apt quote could be, “If you live long enough you will see your treasures trashed.” What was once treasured, maybe an endearment, was the appearance or dress between men and women. Today’s dress is nearly unisex but there is a hold out for what could be regarded as old-fashioned styles. The freedom to do as we please or be what we want to be is obviously behind this trend. Or perhaps these trends might be regarded as fads. But to those who are caught up or in between such trend setting times it cannot help but be another confusing adjustment in life.

What we do when we are young can often be something that will one day come back to haunt us. Once I observed a very attractive tattoo on the hand and wrist of a very well dressed lady at the library. Upon commenting about her tattoo she laughed it off excusing its existence by remarking, “When I was 18 I had no idea I would one day be a librarian.” Tattoos are rather permanent in nature, although they can be re-designed or changed, it is still a tattoo and it is simply there.

None of my comments are meant to criticize but simply state all of us need to realize our choices in life could develop issues that may cause more trouble than imaginable – so the freedom to choose or our free will is and always remains personal, so choose well.

Perhaps some assorted quotes might be useful as some concluding thoughts:

“Philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.” Eleanor Roosevelt

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." Samuel Johnson

“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.” Samuel Johnson

THE WORDWRIGHT