I have been lagging, and I do apologize to all two of my followers. I am changing things up a bit. I will try to get a "Pick of the Week" post every week. As for the "Good or Bad," this will be a little less consistent. I will do it organically, as a trend comes to my attention. I do not want to force that post every week. I will try to post twice a week. The topic today is trying too hard.
Mrs. Straight Guy has a very good friend from high school that we will call Hope. Hope was dating this guy, Stu (not his real name). We loved them as a couple. They were fun, and we went on weekend getaways and had the best times. One thing about Stu that I used to point out to Mrs. Straight Guy was his fashion sense. He tried to be fashionable, but in my opinion, he mixed too many styles or didn't wear them right. For example, one time we went out for Hope's birthday, and Stu got dressed up. He wore a white button up, grey pants, and a vest. That, in theory, sounds nice. It was not. The pants and vest did not match, they were different hues of grey, and his shirt was not plain white. I believe it was pinstriped and too big. It didn't look good, but Hope thought he looked good, and more importantly Stu thought he looked good.
I use Stu as an example because I felt like he tried too hard. He was trying to cram as many fashion trends as he could in each outfit. When we were in Vegas, he wore jeans, a plain white t-shirt tucked in to the jeans, and a sports jacket that was way too big. I thought it was bad, and I pointed it out to Mrs. Straight Guy.
As I look back on Stu, I try to figure out what was wrong. I think he missed the fashion mark, but he was trying. Doesn't trying count for something? There is a negative connotation with the term "trying too hard." Why? At least that person is trying. Some girl or guy dressed up, with their hair done perfectly, make-up on, heels on, Supras or Creative Recs on, should not be ridiculed. I will admit I am the worst culprit. I make fun of girls that wear wedges to Trader Joe's or make-up to the gym. I call guys that do their hair before they go to the gym "douche nozzles."
All that changed when I saw the documentary Mansome by Morgan Spurlock. There was a part in there about a guy who was a self proclaimed metrosexual. He gets his eyebrows threaded, fake tans, his hair and outfit are perfect before he walks out the door. At first, I thought he was such a jerk. He showed a picture of him in high school, a skinny Arab kid that wore a turban everyday. As you can imagine, he was teased, and as he got older he didn't want to be teased for the way he looked anymore. Everyday this guy puts a great deal of effort into the way he looks. He tries very, very hard. I am not saying Stu has self-esteem issues. All I am saying is that part changed the way I looked at Stu and other people. Someone may be trying very hard to look good so he or she does not get made fun of, but in a vicious and ironic twist, are being made fun of because they try too hard.
I did not mean to drop a moral issue in this blog. I don't think it is. It is just something to think about next time, for me at least. Is there something really wrong with someone trying hard to look good? Can he or she try too hard? What if that person needs to try hard? Her amount of makeup or his outfit may not be for me or you, but it may be because of me or you.
