Decorum

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Author Message Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 1146 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 06:54 am:    100224 DECORUM by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Cincinnati, Ohio Have we lost our sense of decorum-- and continue to lose even more of it each and every day? I guess being on the elder side and with decent long-term memory, I remember those other days [won’t bore you with the “good ole days”!!!]. We talked some of this in a piece a few weeks ago in our remembering and missing, but it just seems to become more and more potent. How do you see a product representative who comes into your office in a rumbled golf shirt, buttons open, and sort of faded in color? Are you able to see the good and value in this person as opposed to another who comes in sports coat and tie? How about your own staff, or even yourself-- do you “dress down” so as to not offend your clients who revel in the new “business messy” style? How about the guy in a spiffy blazer, wrinkled khakis, and a necktie-- except his collar is open and the tie is a messy knotted thing that hangs either 4” above his belt, or 8" below? [Do dress shirts have top buttons at the collar anymore?] Do younger men and even those “celebs” ever shave, or is five o’clock shadow now creeping into perennial time? Are the tails on blouses and shirts now so short [due to economic times?] that they no longer can be tucked in? How many comb companies have gone under? Do stores now have “color chips” to select those radical hair colors? Are eating and talking impaired by the trinkets stuck through lips, and tongues? Is there a trinkets catalog? Other than pro football players, who has money to spare on tattoos? [what is the stock market code for any tattooing company for my investment?] Maybe this goes all the way back through generations of changed attitudes and relaxed living to the aftermath of WWII-- after years in uniforms that HAD to be a certain way [remember the “gig line”?], and in slacks and overalls at the shop, our grandparents started the decline to our current “here-I- am-take-me-as-I-am …..”; or the other one, about “I’m the same good person inside no matter how I dress”! My son was stuck in ‘60s and came to look like something they forgot to remove from Woodstock—the pony tail hair, the perennial black jeans and t-shirt, the heavy chain from wallet [with nothing in it] to 3” wide belt, leather vest and “cycle boots”! Why the hell did I spent all that time and money to raise this kid with a sense of decorum-- or rightness, and of being appropriate? And on tympani lessons when he came to "bang" out rock noise on his drums? We worship now in Bermudas and flip-flops! We shop [not in the deteriorated ‘downtown’] in centers where all you have to wear is enough to cover yourself-- and even that is under attack today. Do belt lines and waist lines have any direct relationship anymore? Love to see guys walking and holding their pants up [like they have a loaded diaper] Do the little triangles in thongs really hold jeans up? Why don’t they just make outer wear out of underwear material and patterns and eliminate the sham of the “middle man”? Lord, what 2-3 years in armed service would do for some with all sorts of discipline and proper attire [but, off-duty and off base-- they revert!] Decorum is lost on TV too [remember when bras could not be displayed on live ladies?]. How far are we from open, flat-out sex on the tube? We have enough skin showing, gross “snuggling” so it seems we just have to “pan out” a little and wallah!!!! Oh, I forgot, I usually turn away, too embarrassed to watch! Yea, me! Did you have different clothing outfits when you were younger-- school clothes, take-off-after-school and play clothes; Sunday/church clothes; dress-up fancy in party clothes. Even had at least 2 pairs of shoes for school and others-- or 3 pair to include old ones used for play shoes. Did you used to dress by looking in the mirror several times? Did/does your tie have to be just right [notice the weird off-center quirk to ties these days even on TV hosts and commentators who make millions]. Doesn’t anybody care any more? How have our values and self-worth been so diminished—and why? Lazy? Sloppy? Fashionable? Who says??????? Why have we slipped this far? Was what we did in the past a sham or so imposing that things just HAD to change? Oh, we’ve heard of and seen change before-- from buckskins and high-neck long dresses to suits and plastic collars, to the flapper get-ups, to the worn-out hand-me-downs of the ‘30s. To WWII and the change that I think is at the root of our liberalized decorum today. I’m not sure I will ever really understand or accept this-- flatly there is a time and place for everything, but every time and place is not a constant that requires no changes. Well, OK, bottom line-- does anybody give a damn or a rat’s behind about how they look and what others think of them today? Oh well, I’m off to stir up some trouble in trying to get the office to have a weekly “dress up” day!!!! Wish me luck!