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“I love this shirt!” vs. “I wear this shirt.” |
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Posted 1/26/2010 at 2:34 PM by Bradlee A |
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I was recently sent to Guatemala to photograph a volunteer program through my alma mater: St. John's University. I was exposed to so many things that I am not used to living in the U.S., a first-world country.
One that really struck me was what several Guatemalans wore.
“What a superficial thing to say,” you may be thinking.
And maybe it is. But it was an observation that led to a thought vein deeper than superficiality.
It wasn’t the rainbows of bright colors they wore in their traditional dress. It wasn’t the cowboy hats that many of the men sported. I was surprised, rather, by the T-shirts I saw. Many of them that caught my eye had text on them written in English. Not a surprise since much of the clothing for the poor comes straight from a first world country. But some of the expressions, phrases and pictures on the T-shirts, unbeknownst to the wearer, were shocking an offensive. So shocking and offensive, I can’t list them on a youth driven website.
It got my mind wheels turning. What if in the United States, in first-world nations in general, we really didn’t care what we wore, a shirt was a shirt to cover our body, to keep us warm and to protect us from the elements. It wasn’t used to make a statement, to show where we stand politically, or which of the latest bands, sports teams, or movies we enjoy. We just simply wore it.
I nearly gag every time I see “Best/Worst Dressed” headlines in line at the gas station or on the websites I scan for national and world news. I absolutely despise how fashion, who’s wearing what, what designer made it, and where they dawned it has become a major distraction from the issues I think are what’s really important.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a great T-shirt. I’ve flipped through thousands of T-shirts at thrift stores in search of a clever, eye-catching picture or sang. In college I used to collect T-shirts and I feel better when I have on something that I enjoy wearing. I feel better, which may be why so many people have full-blown addictions to shopping, they feel better when they wear/buy something new.
But is that how it should be?
So I guess a compromise is in order, to enable us to enjoy what we wear, but to also make a positive impact instead of feeding this endless consumption that we are already seeing to be harmful to our existence.
Buy local. Buy used. Buy free trade. Buy organic.
Buy less, if you need to buy at all.
And for all 2 of you out there who have been dying to see the photos from my trip here's one to get you by until I narrow down the 4,000 I took and edit the keepers:
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