Merry Death

We went to the mall last night...

and Phil and I sat on a bench while my Mom and Vivienne rode the train. While there, Phil and I watched this group of boys and girls, teenagers, hanging out in the courtyard.
Now, I have to say that some of this, confession-style, is because I WAS a little jealous of the 17 yr old body those girls possessed. Also, knowing that 12-60 year old men were leering at them made me uncomfortable. BUT...we were utterly amazed that all 4 girls had on tank tops and jean mini skirts, flip flops and the same style handbag slung over their shoulders. They all had medium length hair, straight without bangs, and were very tan. All 3 boys had on cargo-type long shorts with pockets at the bottom. All 3 had on big t-shirts and baseball caps. They all had shaggy hairstyles and were....very tan.
Our question was, Did they look at each other and notice that they all looked alike? Phil said no because they all had different color shirts on and different color hair. Can you really overlook differences like that and ignore that they all wore, essentially, a uniform?
Then, last night, I started thinking about it again. But then, it really hit me. The REAL difference is that Phil and I wouldn't DARE have worn what everyone else was wearing in high school. Our conforming was NOT conforming. So we didn't shop at Abercrombie and Limited and The Gap. We shopped at Thrift Stores where things were all one of a kind. We were trying so hard to not look like those people, they probably thought we looked like our friends, too.
So, I suppose the real moral of this story is that being like everyone else in my mind is the worst thing you can do. But as a typical 17 year old girl, its the best!

posted by Metalmeredith @ 9:35 AM