“Who would wear that color to a funeral?” the elderly woman asked her companion.
I looked for the inappropriate color. After a few seconds I concluded I wore it.
Now, my navy blazer, white shirt and blue striped tie probably didn’t begat ire, alas, my tailored steel blue slacks obviously bothered her.
Scanning the crowd I saw no other blue. Most of the ladies, of course, wore black dresses. Meanwhile, the male mourners uniform consisted of dark grey and black, mostly suits with muted ties.
This ought not be a surprise.
While car shopping on dealers’ websites the overabundance of black, grey and white vehicles dulls the eyes. Others have noticed too, evidenced by a recent facebook post showing a modern car lot against one from the 1970’s. While purple Gremlins and orange Chargers never dominated, blue and red and green and gold and a score of other colors of cars filled parking lots.
I remember in the 1970’s going from a green Dodge Demon to a red Camaro, followed in the 1980’s by a burgundy Audi, thence to a beige Caprice (before our daughter’s birth) then back to green and blue and other hues.
Today we have a black car and a grey car.
Oh, you can get a red Cadillac, just add $1,250 for the Red Tintcoat.
Anyway, we live in a compromised and polarized world. Black, grey and white are safe colors. In an era of “Red States” and “Blue States” with even color choices possibly forcing objectionable conclusions, well, most people just want to be left alone, move anonymously within the crowd.
Once you buy into grey and black, becoming judgmental around other colors is a simple hop to the right. Just as Trumpettes find our politics objectionable, those in favor of masked government agents – wearing black – on our streets look down on flamboyant dress.
Living in black and grey is hard for me. Yes, I buy black socks a dozen pairs at a time but my everyday garb includes a lot of solid .color polo shirts – reds, blues, greens, sunflower, tan, and a bunch more. Looking like everyone else is incredibly dull.
Of course, these are not happy days. With Donald Trump as President and a horde of poorly educated Republicans running Missouri (we have the only governor lacking a college degree), well, leaning into black and grey shouldn’t be a surprise.
Still, part of the opposition to the political malaise can include blue pants or a red car. Individuality must be preserved, at least some of the time.
I went to another funeral at the end of the same week. Black pants, charcoal sport coat and a black tie. I don’t want people talking about me all of the time.
Glenn