Join The Revolution For A Prettier World

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This post was inspired by a conversation I had yesterday on Twitter with San Diego Event Planner Brenda Swann of Swann Soirees. We started talking about how skinny jeans just don't work for a lot of people even though a lot of people wear them anyway. Then Brenda brought up how much she hates a lot of the current fashion because it looks so sloppy. Brenda is always impeccably and appropriately dressed from what I know of her.

I am as guilty as anyone. I wear flip flops and yoga pants more than I should. I try to stay looking pretty pulled together but I could do better. How about you? Do you dress up as often as your parents generation did and does? Do you only wear casual wear to church? Do you own any nice dresses? Do you put accessorized outfits together or do you just grab the pair of sweatpants from yesterday? Is your closet full of jeans and sneakers? How often do you wear yoga pants?

Once when I was in college I showed up at church in a printed tee shirt and a skirt and my mother sent me home to change. What are we teaching our kids about dressing with pride, taking care to look nice, etc??? That scares me a little bit.

Our conversation then transitioned into how that same lack of effort and sloppiness has affected our cultural behavior. We have become lazy about how we dress and how we act. Our language and behavior have become sloppy. We have such low expectations about behavior and standards. We watch garbage on television and enjoy it.  We laugh and celebrate bad behavior with our time and our dollars in the media.

This acceptance and celebration of low standards makes it easy to slip into sloppiness in language. I am continually appalled when out with The Bug, who is a very little girl, to hear language that should never be used around a lady or especially a child. Once a few young men were using horrible language in a store and I suddenly turned to them and said, "Hey guys, there are children here! The language please." Everyone around me was stunned. I was a little surprised myself but just couldn't take it anymore.

Even more offensive is hearing woman speak in deplorable language. I recently found a reply to something I had commented about online that had my name in it & then the F-word next to it in all caps. I was embarrassed to see my name next to that expletive in bold letters. The reply was meant to agree with what I said, but it's out there for good and doesn't look classy or gracious in any way. Agh.

The thought that comes to my mind in all this is the saying "Pretty is as pretty does." I would add, "Pretty is as pretty speaks, dresses and behaves." We all want to be seen as attractive, there are many things we can do to create a more beautiful society by putting more thought into our own appearance, behavior and language and encouraging that in others.

As Brenda and I agreed last night, it only takes a few people to start a revolution. Will you join us and be a part of the revolution to create a prettier world for us all? If so, let me encourage you to please share this article on Twitter, Facebook, etc. If this is something you feel strongly about, show your support and stand up for something you believe it.