AN ESSAY
WRITTEN BY: FRED BALL
When I was a child there were two sexes: boy, girl. Boys were always fun and girls were icky and had cooties. Except Sherry, she was fun to play with. She would climb trees and swim in the creek just like the rest of us. In the summer the creek was icy cold and when the temperatures started to reach 90 degrees F we would all run down to the creek, dump our clothes and jump in. It was called “Bare Ass Beach” for a reason! Sherry did so as well. We did not see anything wrong with this after all she was just one of the boys. If I remember right we were about 5 or 6 at the time and we did not worry about things like sex. In fact we did not worry at all we were having too much fun!
When I was born the world was just getting past dressing all babies and small children in dresses regardless of the sex of the child. I was the last one dressed like that in my family. I wore dresses and skirts until I was about 5 years old and starting Kindergarten. The clothes came from a cousin who had outgrown them. I remember when I got my first long pants and I hated them. They were very uncomfortable and made me feel bad. I would come home from school and take them off (I could not play in them because they were school clothes.) I would wad them up and hide them in the bottom of my closet so that I would not have to wear them again. Well that did not work at all. My mother would get them and press them to get the wrinkles out and I would be forced to wear them to school. I would put on my dress or skirt and go out and play. And the answer to the question forming in your brain is NO! My friends did not make fun of me, as many of them wore skirts and dresses too for the same reason I did. We were poor and did not have a lot of money to spend on new clothes. I did rather enjoy the comfort of the dresses and skirts as they fit loosely and did not bind up in places that should never be bound up.
I am now 80 years old and I still enjoy the comfort of wearing skirts and dresses. Now don’t go jumping to any of those silly conclusions that clothes make you one sex or another, they don’t!! Clothes do not have a sex other than the fact that some one, Lord knows who, decided a long time ago that they did.
Look around you when out doing shopping. Look at what people are wearing. The men are wearing pants and the ladies are wearing pants! Wait, I thought pants were for men!! Then why are ladies wearing them?
Ladies are wearing pants because they decided that pants are theirs to wear and they started to wear them taking them from the men only side of the store. So if women can wear pants why can’t men wear dresses?? The most simple answer is they can and should, if they so choose. We have put ourselves into small little boxes and are afraid to get out of them. By the way, pants were invented so warriors could ride horses into battle easier. They are a modern invention. Since I do not ride horses into battle, I do not need pants. Many men wear skirts and in some countries it is the law that the men wear shirts.
I have found that when I am out and about shopping or just sightseeing I seldom even get a side glance from all of the people I pass. But when checking out in a Wal-Mart I get called out by a so called Christian who berates me and tells me I am going to hell. Why? Because the clothes I wear are sending me there. I reminded the stupid person that our Lord wore robes and skirts. The robe worn at the time resembled dresses. I have received many compliments as well, mostly from the ladies. Some have even said they wished their husbands would wear skirts. I tell them they should buy their husbands one and ask him to wear it around the house and then get him out of the house in it.
Clothes do not a person make! We have been placing people in tight boxes for years, we now need to do away with those boxes. Allow people to wear what they want, not force them into things they do not want to wear. People make the clothes!
ABOVE ALL JUST HAVE FUN AND BE NICE TO ONE ANOTHER! Yeah hear!!!
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