Modesty

When did it become so appropriate for people to flaunt their bodies everywhere they go with little thought of what that says about them?  Yesterday in Spokane the kids and I drove by a coffee shop.  There was a very scantily clad young "lady" out in front with either a very bright red bra or a very skimpy bright red bikini top and the shortest pair of jean shorts possible, and she was standing on the sidewalk flagging people down for business.  Made me wonder if it's really just a "coffee house".

I see it everywhere I go.  Young girls dressed in clothing that is so inappropriate I wonder what is wrong with their parents that they will pay for their girls to dress in this kind of crap.  I also wonder about the boys who walk around with their jeans falling off to show off their underwear.  I heard that trend started in jail because when you go to jail they take your belt away from you so you don't use it to hurt yourself or others.  I guess I have just never been interested in dressing like a jail inmate.

It also is very hard to buy clothes that are modest and what I consider to be appropriate for Nicole to wear.  The new jeans are cut so that they ride so low on the waist that when the girls bend over you see their butt crack.  I thought that was reserved for plumbers.  I finally had to buy Nicole some half t-shirts that fit around her waist and hang down under her shirts so she can cover up her crack.  I just don't understand why that should be a feature in clothing.

Then there are the "bootie shorts" I see girls wearing.  They even wear them to school here.  I especially dislike the ones that have words across the butts of them. My dad would have never let me out the door looking the way some girls dress.  I also can't believe that the school doesn't have a stricter dress code or at least enforce the one they have.  Some of the girls even wear their slippers to school.  I guess Wal-Mart isn't the only place you can go to look at embarrassing wardrobes people choose.

Earlier this year Nicole quit dance class because of some of the costumes that were chosen for the girls to dance in.  When they had a rehearsal and were supposed to bring all of the items they were supposed to wear and change into for each dance, she was told that her shorts were not short enough and that her shirt was not tight enough.  It's pretty sad (to me at least) that an instructor of any sort would want to have students wear costumes that are so revealing.  After all they are only schoolgirls.  Then there was the number where they had T-shirts to write on that said sexy and I know it that were worn under zipped up hoodies until the end of the number when they unzipped the hoodies to reveal their shirts.  I was proud that Nicole refused to be a part of this class and felt comfortable enough and confident enough about herself to just quit and say this is not for me.

I don't expect a lot of people to agree with me, but it is an instruction in the bible to not clothe yourself in a way so as to attract unwanted attention.  The bible instructs that our focus should be on God and not on the effect we can have on others by showing ourselves scantily clad to them.  I feel it is very harmful for the young girls of today to have this kind of image. I think they need to be taught and know that they are worth so much more than what they wear.  They need to know that it is not necessary to show so much skin that they are found to be attractive by "the other sex".  I also think it is harmful for our young men to look at these girls every day.  Boys are so stimulated by things visual that these images stay with them forever.  There is a Sunday school song the kids in the nursery sing that says:

"Be careful little eyes what you see, by careful little ears what you hear, be careful little mouth what you say, be careful little hands what you do because the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see, by careful little ears what you hear, be careful little mouth what you say, be careful little hands what you do."

I want Nicole and Daniel to know that who they are is not defined by how they dress or by how others perceive them to be.  All children should know that they were created by God exactly the way they are, and it doesn't matter what other people or society sees when they look at them.  I want them to know that they don't need to expose their bodies to get attention from anyone for anything.