“It’s the style”

I thought I would begin a side column of those sayings that I hear that drive me nuts.  Things that are like fingernails on a chalkboard.  You all know what I’m talking about.  Perhaps you won’t share my opinions ….. and we can’t all be right all the time…..but I am hoping someone can shed light on a few things.

To begin with, the statement “it’s the style”, or “it’s in style”, or better yet, “everyone is wearing it”.  I have a sister – only one, thank goodness – and she is constantly trying to keep up with the times.  I think the problem I have with it is that she’s almost 40 years old, yet she’s keeping up with 20 year old times.  Why do I see this as a problem?  You mean besides the fact that she’s wearing necklaces to her belly button, skin tight shirts, and big sunglasses that make her look like a bumblebee?  Ummm… that’s about it.  I worry that she has become so materialistic that she’s wearing things because that’s what “everyone” else is doing, instead of being herself.  This made me think of a column.

I go through drive-thrus and see young people with piercings in every extremity.  I mean everything.  Nothing is grosser than to have my food passed to me by a young kid with greasy hair, and a pin (can’t call it an earring because … NOT THE EAR) in their chin, eyebrow, lip, tongue, etc.  How unsanitary is that?  How do you clean them?  I want to pick them off their face and throw them out.  But I smile and wave, thanking them for disgusting me for one more day.

However, back to the style thing.  What does this mean?  That it’s in style?  Does it mean you HAVE to wear it?  Does it mean that it’s automatically cheap, comfortable, attractive, etc, because it’s the ‘style’?  God, no!  I have seen so many things that are in style that make me shudder.  Heavy people with skin tight shirts that have the rolls of their stomachs hanging over their pants; hair that hangs in their faces that they have to keep moving away so they can see clearly.  Reminds me of those dogs that will go blind if you tie their fur back.  Will these people go blind if they wear their hair back?  Honestly!

And what about the next generation?  My sister has two children, and one is a girl.  She is being taught to wear and buy things that are in style.  Not that she likes them, or they fit her nice.  Because they’re in style.  But we’re (correction PEOPLE, cause I’m not one of them) following a style that is on the cover of magazines, or a style that comes across a t.v. screen.  How stupid is that?  Are we so superficial that we can’t find our own style?  We have to copy it?  I get it when you see something that looks nice and you want it because it looks good on you.  I get that it can be comfortable.  I even get that you feel good wearing them.  What I don’t get is why people are willing to hide their true selves just to be like everyone else. 

Explain it to me!