When President Barack H. Obama launched his campaign, he ensured that it hinged upon a single but far from simple concept: “Change!”  As diverse as the United States of America has become on every level, the one thing that seemed a national constant has been change.  Perhaps no one knows that better than people who emigrated to the U.S.   When America flung her arms open to welcome the throngs of immigrants from Western Europe in the early 1900’s, many came with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.  They sought a new life in a new country, and the wealth that they contributed was not monetary.  It was their culture, their religion, and their strong social mores.

As they assimilated, they changed their language, trading their native tongues for broken English.  Holding tight to their cultures, they simultaneously incorporated American ways into their lives, passing these hybrid cultures down to their families.  Family and religion had always been the root of immigrants’ lives.  You could say that family, God, and country were the seeds that they’d planted.

In the first four decades of the 1900’s, people honored certain occasions, in part, by dressing appropriately for them.  Whether it was a wedding or a funeral, or attending church or temple, men manifested sartorial splendor with suits, felt hats, long-sleeved shirts, ties, and polished shoes.  Women donned hats, their best dresses, silk stockings, and leather shoes with matching handbags.

This unwritten dress code was a sign of respect. Whether a special occasion or a job interview, folks always put their best foot forward with appropriate apparel.  Many fine restaurants and funeral parlors insisted that their patrons display proper dress at their establishments.  Then along came World War II and with it, change.  After the war, the first generation born to the immigrants got married and continued the traditions of the past, with one exception.  They’d changed the traditional dress code to “Casual.”

The Donna Reed and Leave It to Beaver moms wore newly styled ultra-feminine dresses in response to better times.  With the war over and fabric previously needed for military uniforms and parachutes no longer at a premium, women’s fashions became far less austere than they’d been in the forties.  However, women  also began to wear Capri pants (“peddle pushers”) and casual blouses.  Men still wore their suits and ties to work, but at home, in friend’s houses, and often, out in public, it was a different story.  People in the ’50’s were simply more relaxed, and “casual dress” was often considered proper for special occasions, as long as one’s appearance was neat.

When the ’60’s arrived with a bang, tidiness flew out the window.  Long, unkempt tresses, scruffy bell bottoms, and tie dye made it nearly impossible to tell the boys from the girls.  The Disco Era of the ’70’s was an extreme reaction to this slovenliness, with its over-the-top glitter, platform shoes, “big hair,” and shoulder pads wide enough to accommodate the landings of 747’s.  Then we had the ’80’s with the aptly named Grunge look of the X generation, and well, I’m no fashion maven, so you can fill in the rest!  Let it suffice to say that, as attitudes changed, so did the concept of “casual dress.”  Now, it’s devolved to mean anything but naked!

As a member of the greatest generation ingrained with the immigrant mindset, I have reservations concerning the decommissioning of the formal dress code.  In tandem with other members of the VFW Post 2445 Honor Guard, I have attended the funeral services of fallen comrades and have offered the final salute to former soldiers who have served their country.  I was always properly dressed, out of respect.  But, I cannot believe how people now come to view their friends or relatives for the last time, dressed like they just came from a picnic.  They don old dungarees, sneakers or worse, flip flop sandals, and their hair seems as if it has never met a comb or a brush.  Is this casual or is it disrespectful?

As America’s youth searches for role models, it finds grown men wearing baseball caps backwards.  I suppose these heroes did not read the instructions that came with the cap: “Place the cap on top of your head with the visor shading your eyes.  Do not wear it at an angle as UV rays can damage your retinas, and if you turn the cap so that the peak faces backwards, it will not be suitable for shading the back of your neck.”  I guess the only reason these fashion plates did not put their jackets on backward is that they could not zip them up.

For too long now, the hot male fashion has been the extra, extra, extra large baggy pants that fasten at the hips, leaving the top of the wearers’ butts showing.  This style must have been designed by the mentally disturbed, or by perhaps plumbers seeking validation amongst the general populace.  Or maybe I am totally off the mark and sadists designed it.  Any longer and those dragging-on-the-ground pants, coupled with the untied shoelaces, and the dudes wearing these get-ups are in for a major fall.   Plop!  I’m sure that my grandparents would have a few choice words for these fashions in their native language.  Being a gentleman, I won’t repeat those words here!

The truth is, the way that we dress is but an outward manifestation of what transpires in our individual psyches and in the greater “hive mind.”   A Gallop poll conducted in 2008 indicated that 28% of all Catholics attended Sunday Mass, as compared to 75% in 1958.  The lack of respect for our Creator has translated into widespread violence, bad attitudes, drug abuse, and sexual revolutions leading to terrible terminal diseases such as AIDS.  The basic fabric of any society is family and religion; without those elements, there is nothing but chaos.

As you can see, our world is changing rapidly.  As this world continues to turn, I may just want to jump off!