When did clothes get so noisy? Particularly t-shirts which all seem to have something written on them. I look back at my childhood which contained not one t-shirt in my wardrobe, as the only people who had them were men who wore them under dress shirts or to work on cars. And all of them were plain white and silent.
And when did clothing companies get us to agree that we should be walking advertisements for their wares? Does your jacket really have to proclaim who made it? And when did we become convinced that we were better people because our clothes had one company’s or another’s logo on it?
The phrase ‘reading people’ used to mean making an effort to understand them, and where they stood on issues. Now it means trying to read their t-shirt as they pass by on the street, or disappear around a corner at the mall. If the writing is on the back of the shirt, it is much easier to squint and get what the clothes are trying to say, but when the writing is on the front it becomes more difficult to read without giving offense, particularly to women. And why should anyone be offended if they step out in a shirt that says something that others then try and read?
And it is not only clothes that are noisy, but stores as well. My local craft store is filled with signs that proclaim things about family, and life aspirations. Do we now feel that we can put up a sign about how wonderful our family is and they will become so? Do we feel we can hang a sign on our wall, and its sentiments will then be ours without the hard work to get there?
I have to admit that I enjoy a funny or pointed comment on a shirt as much as the next person. And I spend a great deal of time reading what is out there on bodies great and small. But because someone wears a shirt that urges all to ‘be kind’ does that mean they are, or that we will be, kinder because we wore it or read it?
This is not a new consideration. From the first century BC comes this quote from a famous Roman writer, Publilius Syrus, “I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.” And a more modern take from the famous American humorist Will Rogers, “Never miss a chance to shut up.”
It has been true down through the ages that the heart truly grows and sings only in the silences of our lives.