Dear World,
I participated in a bit of a social experiment last night at a Christmas party. I say I participated in, but really and accidentally I was the social experiment. I showed up to the party in bright pink shining pajama's. I had been asked to come prepared to share about my experiences in Cambodia working with Vietnamese people. In Cambodia there was an interesting older woman who adopted me and made me these pj's needless to say I'm rather proud of them and have very fond memories associated with them. So when asked to share about my time in Cambodia they came to mind pretty fast.
Now I realize that everyone else was wearing normal everyday cloths, one or two had ventured out to more festive attire such as Santa Hats, but for the most part I stood out like a sore thumb, okay I shone like Rudolf the Reindeer's Nose and pretty much everyone noticed. Most people simply accepted it as part of my occasionally quirky personality, but others not so much. They came to me and asked if there was a reason for the bright pink, once I told them I was part of the presentation they laughed and went on their way, but there was one person's remark which has stayed with me, she said, "are you part of the entertainment? Because if not I feel bad for you..." Part of me understood exactly where she was coming from, a certain amount of decorum is expected and should be respected, but the other part of me felt hurt. What business is it of anyone else what I'm wearing, no I wasn't trying to make a statement and I wasn't dancing at the front of the room trying to get everyone's attention, I was simply wearing something that brought back special memories.
I'm not sharing this experience to make anyone feel guilty or share my pet peeves about clothing. I am however sharing this to invite people to ponder, have social norms and political correctness become so pervasive that no one dares speak up and do something different? All I did was walk into a party wearing something pink, when everyone else was wearing winter tones and I got some heckling out of it. What about standing up to protesters who are protesting because they want to be seen as being with the times, but don't really understand what is at stake and why a jury made the decision which they did? Or about being bold in standing up for beliefs, I'm not the best at this, but I want to do better.
We live in a world where trends like shoulder pads, skinny jeans and ugly sweaters all come and go leaving all of us trying harder and harder to keep up with the changes. These trends won't make us happy, even if we think we're fitting in. Instead we are left without much left in our pocket book and nothing in our closet we feel safe wearing.
These trends also occur much too often in the political realm. I name political correctness for one. I'm completely behind respecting everyone, but why doesn't p.c. extend to police officers and a legal system that are trying to respect and protect the rights of all.
I talked with a friend from town that farms and is part of the Bureau for Land Management yesterday. He shared that because of the trend of organic and open land ranged meat he loses a 1/3 of the productivity of his land. I agree that less fertilizer is better, but when we lose so much productivity we also lose the ability to help third world countries severely in need of food. I think of the many families I met in Cambodia who went hungry almost more frequently than were fed. I think of families I've heard of in the Dominican Republic and many other places in the world in need of food. We have such a cocky, self-assured mindset in the U.S that fads and trends will bring us happiness, but what happens when the fad passes?
It seems this country has silenced the majority of Judeo-Christians who have truth, but fear to share it. Please don't be afraid to wear the pink pajamas even if you think you're sticking out, in reality you have a large group of people cheering you on.
Sincerely Alison
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