Modest Mouse

Today I asked Siri what modesty was.  She proceeded to show me a list of definitions, one being: ‘behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency’.  It seems to me that modesty has been shoved into a museum along with rotary phones, paper maps, VCR’s and dial-up internet.

I work in an environment where I see children of all ages.  I remember one day recently, after I said my fare wells to a lovely mother and her eleven year old daughter, I watched as they walked out of the building and I noticed that I could see the bottom portion of this very young girl’s bum cheeks.  The only reason I wasn’t stunned and shocked is because I unfortunately see this on a regular basis.

The encounter reminded me of an article I read (ok maybe it was one of Perez Hilton’s posts) where it stated that Kendall Jenner was NOT happy about a photographer circulating a pic that he took of her showing the bottoms of her cheeks. And I don’t mean the ones on her face. Appalling? Yes! But why was she wearing a dress that is shorter than my favorite Foo Fighter’s t-shirt? And WHERE was her underwear?

It’s one thing for young celebrities to be scantily clad; they live for any kind of press, be it good or bad.  But what about the beloved young ladies in our lives? Are we allowing society to dictate their appearance and their self worth?

This bothers me because that eleven year old will eventually turn into the seventeen year old that walks into a professional office wearing those same pair of shorts she wore when she was eleven only now she has paired them with a sheer blouse that has a plunging neckline so low, it would make Rihanna blush.

By allowing and accepting this kind of vestment, are we inadvertently teaching young girls that in order to be attractive, they have to expose as much skin as legally possible?

Perhaps young girls associate modesty with the image of a mousy girl who sits in a corner with headgear, a turtle neck, curdoroy pants and no friends or self esteem.  But this is far from the truth.  I know many young women who are modest AND pretty AND respectful AND smart AND talented AND  have lots of real friends, not just Facebook “friends”. Why not educate our youth on the importance of self respect and proper dress and grooming?  On the value of respecting others and how to accentuate their brains, not their boobs.

I commend all those parents out there that strive to inculcate these positive values in their children and also all those young ones that, despite the constant bombardment of licentious debauchery from the media, live the happy and balanced life of a modest mouse. 

“The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.” – Kurt Cobain