Are we going forward or backward?

Are we going forward or backward?

By going forward we will reach our destination.

By going backward we will reach our starting point.

God created our first parents naked. They were not ashamed of their nakedness.

“Now they were both naked: Adam, of course, and his wife. And they were not ashamed..” (Gen. 2:25)

But when they committed sin by eating the forbidden fruit they began to be ashamed.

“And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.” ( Gen. 3:7)

They made dress to hide their nakedness. This was the primary aim of dress.

But in course of time it became a fashion. Together with  fashion showing one’s identity too became the aim of dress. Thus entered uniforms.

By one’s uniform we can identify the position of a person.

By the police uniform we can identify a police.

By the cassock we can identify a priest.

By the habit we can identify a religious.

By the black coat we can identify a lawyer.

School children have their own school uniforms.

To be short, every professional has his own uniform.

But now times are changing, changing very fast.

Hiding- nakedness purpose and identity purpose are in the process of vanishing.  Many people are moving about in public in their half-naked dresses and they are not ashamed of it. Many people wear transparent dresses and they don’t worry about its indecency.

Many people have begun to dislike the dress worn for identity purpose. Students are happier in their ordinary dress than in their uniforms. One day I announced in the class, “No uniform compulsory tomorrow”; they welcomed my words with claps!

Some people are of opinion that dressing is their personal affair and nobody has any right to interfere into it.

But they must remember that anything that affects the public is not personal.

Sleeping is our personal affair only when it  does not affect the public.

Can you sleep on a national high way and say, “it is my right”? Can you move about indecently in public and say, “Dressing this way is my personal right; those who think that they are morally affected may close their eyes.”?

We are social beings and our actions should not affect the society negatively.

When I notice the changes that undergo our mode of dressing I feel to think that we are moving backward towards Adam and Eve’s time!

Lourdu Selvam.