Give Me
Modesty or Give Me Death!
Ok, so
you may think that mentality is going a little too far. But I don’t!! WHY?
Cause Modesty is freedom!!! And I don’t want to live without freedom. Do you?
Think
about this:
Well.
That isn’t something that you hear very often. Your adornment should not be
external? You may be thinking, what else can it be?
You definitely don’t see too many internal adornments on sale at your local
department stores. On the contrary, the message clothing stores give to you as
young girls is "Wear these new slinky clothes! They're shorter, skimpier, sexier. And if you don’t feel comfortable in those types of
clothes, well, too bad for you."
I've got
good news. You don’t have to dress like Christina Aguilera. Do you know that a
lot of teenagers feel like they have to dress a certain way to "get
guys"? WELL YOU DON’T! It's still a free country, right? Keep it free with
modesty!!! And if the boys don’t like it, as Noelle said, they can scram! Plus,
the guys who "want" you when you DO dress like Ms. Aguilera are not loving the whole you-- they are only objectifying
and lusting after your body. Do you think if any guy off the street saw
Christina Aguilera in her normal adornment, they would be impressed by her
brilliant mind or stunning personality? Um, doubtful.
I think that's very sad. And personally, it makes me feel kind of gross.
Immodesty makes
you a slave to the wind.
Think I'm kidding?
There is a book by Wendy Shalit called Return to Modesty. In it she makes it
clear that every woman has an inherent sense of personal modesty, and she
describes the "windy day proof,” which is reproduced below.
Picture this. A career woman is walking from her car to the
seventeen-story office building that she works in. At first you think that
perhaps she is a hunchback because of the way she is walking. All stooped over,
she seems to be struggling along quite uncomfortably, face screwed up in
concentration. Just as you are about to step in to see if you can help her, you
notice that she is simply trying to keep herself covered. You see, the wind has
picked up considerably since she got dressed that morning. Because it is the
fashion, she is wearing high heels, and a professional looking skirt that is
slit high up one side, (perhaps both sides,) or the back. Her shirt is of the
extra low let's show some cleavage variety, and it is quite a problem trying to
bend over to cover your legs without exposing her chest. And if she didn’t
clutch her skirt and shirt desperately, then they would surely fly everywhere
and expose everything because of the wind. Just as you think that all is lost,
she makes it inside. You notice that as she goes into the building, followed by
many other equally hunched back women, she is miraculously healed, and walking
upright once again. Must be something magical about the double glass doors, you
think to yourself.
So, why does she bother with all the clutching? Why not walk upright
with dignity to the office building? What is she thinking?
Well, she probably realizes that it would be hard to look dignified
walking upright on a windy day with two high slits in your skirt…
Don’t get me wrong. I'm not saying walk around in a t-shirt for the
rest of your life. You should take time to make yourself look nice. But be
modest about the way you look. Don’t be so occupied with those external
adornments, and then you will have time to work on the more important internal ones. It is important to
respect yourself and your person by dressing nicely, but what is inside shows a
lot about who you are as a person—more clearly and sharply than you might
realize.
Lastly, remember that you are priceless; a perfect creation of God. Dress like you believe it!!
We all
have a choice as to how we will live. Here's hoping you'll choose freedom.
Dawn
is a theology major at