A Memory from my past

Perhaps this sounds silly, but I wanted to share a memory from my past with everyone here. I grew up in that transition generation somewhere between with Ozzie and Harriet Nelson was replaced by Ozzie and Sharon Osbourne. Don't get me wrong, I am not an old fossil that does not appreciate modern conveniences and change, but I do miss some of what I was brought up with.

One thing I miss is seeing women in feminine clothes and people in general just dressed appropriately for whatever occasion. It's not that I have issues at all with women wearing pants or with doing what is practical to get a job done. But I really miss femininity in America. I sometimes literally get sad when I go into a mall and see a sea of generic people all dressed in jeans and t-shirts. You see, back when I was a boy, people dressed for whatever occasion they were about to be exposed to.

If you were getting ready for work, you may wear your work uniform or whatever attire was appropriate for the job. Usually men wore some kind of dickies type pants and a company shirt. Even men in trades where they were inclined to get dirty generally wore an appropriate work outfit that at least looked crisp and clean when it left the house in the morning. However, if a man was going shopping, he would generally change into a button down shirt and clean pressed slacks. Women also dressed appropriately. For instance, when a woman was around the house, she may wear slacks or a house dress (usually a straight shirt dress), but she would not generally wear that in public. She would instead take a moment to change into more appropriate attire for shopping, usually a nice looking circle skirt or full dress, not too dressy, but nice enough to be seen out in public, maybe a little lipstick and some jewelry.

Even children had a standard of appropriateness. In school, girls had dresses and skirts and boys had button down shirts and nice slacks. Shoes were worn, not sneakers (sneakers and tennis shoes were reserved for gym or going out to play!) After school children would change into play clothes which were usually jeans and t shirts and then they could get dirty!

Sundays also had their own sort of dress code. People generally wore their best for Sunday. Men wore suits with ties with pressed dress shirts and looked respectable, even guys like my truck driver dad took the time to spruce up and look their best for God. Women wore dressy apparel and stockings and most women back then wore hats in church. After church was a great time for pictures because you knew everyone would always look their best.

Even employees of most public jobs had uniforms. Most waitresses wore pink or black dresses with aprons over them, milk men wore checked uniforms with white shirts and bow ties (back then, milk was delivered to your home), priest, nuns and ministers of all kinds wore religious garb in public. Nurses wore white nursing outfits with hats that represented the schools that they attained their nursing degrees from, doctors wore white lab coats and grocery store cashiers usually had crisp white shirts/blouses with trim and emblems matching their company colors.

I miss that kind of America, I grow tired of everyone everywhere looking like they were just too lazy to get up and put on something clean and pressed, even in Church! School, work, church, out in public all the same, jeans, t-shirts and sneakers. To me it's boring and unattractive and I wish we could bring some of the attitudes we had way back when to the hear and now. And I truly believe that if I walk into one more restaurant and see wait staff dressed in polo shirts and kakhi's I will scream!

Oddly, I find myself appreciating those who do wear uniforms these days more, police and fire personnel in crisp uniforms, military in everything from desert gear to dress uniforms, professionals who actually dress for the office. Hell, I even appreciate the US Postal Service uniforms, and those have to be the ugliest uniforms ever made! To those who make the effort to look good while performing their service, thank you! You make this man happy.

Well anyway, thank you for letting an old man have his ranting. My only consolation is that I play a game called the sims. In my game, people dress more like they did way back when. So when I am tired of this world, I just switch on my computer and go to my little neighborhood where all is well again!