We are so easily distracted.
A little virus sweeps across the globe, and we forget completely about how to choose our wardrobe.
The folks at Chalkbeat.org recently published a story about Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ visit to Village East Community Elementary School, part of the Cherry Creek School District… and the article was illustrated with the photo shown below, when it was excerpted by the Colorado Sun.
The Governor appears to be saying something to the young students, although — because he’s wearing an N95 mask — we can’t see his mouth, so we make this assumption based on his posture.
(We’ll be discussing posture, more, in a moment.)
If I had to guess what the Governor is saying, based on the photo, it would be:
“You kids are in second grade, and I remember being in second grade and learning some really neat things. I hope, this year, you will learn what ‘social distancing’ means — because none of you are practicing social distancing right now. One of the key requirements established by my administration, in response to the COVID crisis, has been social distancing.
“You don’t need to know how to spell it. You just have to learn how to do it.
“I know you are all excited to be back with your friends and sitting together at the same tables… but, as you go through this school year, I hope your teacher will make sure each and every one of you learns what ‘social distancing’ means…”
I can imagine him saying that.
Meanwhile, a picture is worth a thousand words (except on Twitter, where it’s worth only 280 characters.) The first thing that caught my eye in this photograph was the Governor’s mask, because it makes him look… well, it makes him look foolish. Sorry, but it’s true. Face masks make people look silly, and weak. Even the teacher in this picture looks rather foolish and wimpy, and so do the students.
But there’s a lot more going on in this picture than just some people wearing masks that make them look silly, and helpless.
I’m talking about fashion. We notice, right away, that the Governor’s bright white face mask clashes with his blue attire. Even an orange mask — orange being the ‘complementary color’ to blue — would look more dignified (and might have had the added benefit of defining the Governor as a Broncos fan.)
Then we look closer and notice that the Governor is wearing a polo shirt, with a blazer. Who wears a polo shirt, with a blazer?
Finally, we allow our eyes to take in the Governor’s complete ensemble, and we notice that our state’s most prominent elected official is wearing tennis shoes. Dark turquoise tennis shoes.
Okay, yes, the children are also wearing colorful tennis shoes. Children are supposed to wear tennis shoes, because they scamper and play. Tennis shoes are great, if your job is to scamper and play.
We have to wonder if Governor Polis has arrived just in time for recess?
For a stark comparison, we might look at the fashion statement consistently made by another important American political leader.
Here is a photo of such a leader, making a statement to the mainstream media. Is he wearing a silly mask? No. Is he wearing a polo shirt with a blazer? No.
We note the attractive Italian shoes. No comfortable tennis shoes for this statesman!
We also note the two-inch heels built into those attractive Italian shoes, to make this leader appear to be two inches taller than he actually is.
Political leaders should be tall. There’s nothing wrong with wearing high heels, when you are the elected leader of the Free World.
But there is, indeed, something wrong… if those two-inch heels make it appear that you’re about to topple over onto your face.