The shirt would arrive, I'd put it on at home, look in the mirror and feel like a billboard. I hate shirts with advertising. I don't wear those sorts of brands, I don't like being used to sell something - even if it's something I believe in. It feels dehumanizing, isolating, impersonal. Maybe I live too much in ideals, but I want people to know I'm pro-life, because they know me, I want it to be because I value people in my daily life, not because I'm a walking bumper-sticker. It's not that I'm against the wearing of such shirts in general - it just seems to de-relationalize my own interactions with the people around me. Maybe if I were one of those extroverted, outgoing types..maybe then the words on my chest would serve as more of a jumping off point for conversations; but I'm not that type of person - I'm not comfortable separating out the beliefs in my life from my relationship to Life Himself..or from my relationships to the people around me.
In my ideal world, my symbols would speak for themselves in a more holistic way. My poetry, my tattoos; my scapular, my clothes themselves - without the aid of slogans, would all assure the world around me: This woman believes in Life, she builds her life around Him - and maybe that world is only waiting on me, on my being brave enough, or humble enough, or something enough to actually begin building my life around Christ in earnest.
What about you? Are you comfortable wearing words? Particularly words with strong meanings, challenging words, or words certain to cause arguments around the holiday-table?
Words? I would wear words, if they said:
ReplyDelete"I can be terse! Once in flight school, I was even laconic!"
or
"Also, I can kill you with my brain."
or
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." (Even if it's hard to imagine myself saying that. :P)
But political slogans? No. No no no no. It takes a lot to get me to assert myself politically; I feel like I'm being a jerk when I do, even if I'm absolutely right. I wore a Love Life hat at a pro-life rally where I served hot dogs... and haven't worn it much since, but at least that one's vague. If it had said "Choose Life", I would have felt like I was bossing people around. I don't even really do bumper stickers, although Lou has a "Respect Life" one with a silhouette of a baby's head and an elderly person's head, that I've never objected to. (He also has an Franciscan University sticker. Ooh. I should get a Utah State one... then we'd look like a Catholic and a Mormon in the same car... and I could picture that messing with people's minds. Hahahahahah!)
THOSE are the shirts I can get into!!! Fun ones, that either create a sense of shared enjoyment, or make people feel like they're kind of losers for NOT having watched Firefly yet ;)
DeleteI'm happy enough, in conversation, to bossy people around..but just wearing one..yeah, it makes me feel like I'm actively cutting off a conversation that could have been..
I LOVE the war of the colleges though..Mormon vs. Catholic - hahahahaha!
I agree! I don't generally wear clothing with labels or other words, with the occasional exception of a band tee (but I think that's partly because people find a canon lawyer in an AC/DC tee rather amusing. I don't have bumper stickers either, and the only exception I might make is for The Presence- more to help get the word out. But I concur with your point about strong or political words. These are often counter productive. A pithy and clever catch phrase is more likely to simply anger than change someone's mind. Controversial subjects take relationship and real conversation.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad! I was worried about posting this one..I didn't want to sound like a pro-life-hater or something! I like t-shirts that say snotty things, or fun little poems..but this "These are often counter productive. A pithy and clever catch phrase is more likely to simply anger than change someone's mind. Controversial subjects take relationship and real conversation." is exactly what I meant!!!!
Delete..and, I kind of love the idea of a canon lawyer in an AC/DC tee..please tell me you meet with clients in shirts like that! :)
Mmm, yummy thought-food! Let me think . . . I don't have any shirts that advertise, and except for a short-lived bumper sticker that read "My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter"--which was more of an inside joke for believers than a proselytizing message--I don't think I have anything that would fall into the advertising for what I believe in category. But I can't say that's not just personal taste; if I wanted something that had words on it for aesthetic reasons, I'd be much happier with it if it was somehow significant. "Joe's Surf Shop" or some other phrase that holds no meaning for me is going to be a hard sell unless I REALLY like the shirt! I actually like the color of that shirt up there, but the cut not so much (I like looser sleeves and wider collars!).
ReplyDeleteIcould not resist commenting. Well written!
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