Becoming A Man

Saturday, May 14, 2005

WARNING THE FOLLOWING IS A RANT:

Everyday,I find that our culture and society are an unparalleled source of entertainment. Lately, I have been examining the messages that are casually shoved in our faces. Messages deeper than you need to be white, rich, skinny, healthy, happy all the time, always have an erection, have a nice car, a good education, blah, blah, blah...

I feel as if someone much bigger and more powerful than God is telling me every second of the day that I'm not good enough. I have a car. It looks like shit, but it gets me from point A to point B. However, I'm not good enough until I own a Mercedes ZX3 and a Land Rover. Use Quaker State Synthetic Premium Motor Oil...I think you get the picture.

The thing is good enough is never enough and it's extremely exhausting. Flipping through a well know fashion magazine, I skimmed over a section on "....The seasons hottest new colors for your nails...." The new hot color...PINK! I have nothing against pink. I will admit I like wearing pink and I like painting my nails that specific shade. Additionally, I have collected a rainbow of polishes over the years. However, last time I checked PINK was pretty popular last year and the year before. AND it is not a NEW color.

But then again shell, pearl, pearly shell, haze, sunset haze, cotton candy, pinkee, barely blush, blush, feminine touch(?), nordic pink(?), sunkissed, champange frost, rose, champange rose, jasmine (Um...Jasmine is a white flower), peek-a-boo pink, peppy pink, tickled pink (Haha..Not so much) and pinky winky (A TeleTubby?) are. If the barrage of "...newest hottest colors for the summer..." (cough..still just PINK) weren't enough, the helpful fashion gurus at said magazine carefully outlined when and where I should display my "...newest hottest color of the summer..." So, thoughtful and nice of them. The fashion faux pau of wearing peppy pink to the club when I should have worn haze! Thank you for saving me the embarrasment!!

Now, I understand why women are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue and/or generalized nervous disorders. Our brains are crammed full of self defeating and devaluing "helpful information." If anything, it's fuel for the already blazing fire eating away at our esteem. There has to be a better way.

While scanning this article, I also thought about my brother. I'm sure he would look fab in pink nail polish (That's probably another Blog) and if I had shown him the page his response would have been: "Why are all of those polishes pink? Aren't they any different colors?" We have all had the color challenged dad, boyfriend, brother (Just think black socks, sandals and brown shorts.). I am almost convinced that ROY G BIV is the extent of the male color palette. Indigo might be stretching it. Cleadon, chartreuse, aubergine--no way. It's green, green and purple. You might get an -ish or a light/dark modifier. In general, men keep it simple. I like that. I like it a lot.

So for the record, pink is still pink.