First Posted: 1/20/2014
I decided to take a “me” night after a long and stressful day at the office. Nothing sounded more perfect than cuddling with my cat and watching “Gone with the Wind.”
As the movie came to a close, it got me thinking about how different the people of that time were compared to the people of today. We seem to be missing a level of class that should be a standard for the women of today.
In the land of fast food and fart jokes, women who curse like sailors, drink like fish, and dress like prostitutes have become a social norm. Can we change that and not be considered the odd lady out? We can, and here are some tips on how to start.
• Own a string of pearls and actually wear them. Whether they be your grandmother’s or some falsies from Kmart, this simple addition to your wardrobe will make you feel like a lady and give you a certain level of class and sophistication that you just can’t achieve by wearing the rubber band choker that you created on your Rainbow Loom.
• Pajamas should be worn to bed and nowhere else. A recent trip to Walmart exposed me to more people wearing pajamas in public than jeans. Take the two minutes to put on a pair of pants. Have we as a society gotten to the point where we are so lazy we can’t change our pants to leave the house? Are fleece “Duck Dynasty” pants all the rage on the runway in Milan? And a further extension of the previous point: leggings are not pants.
• Be the kind of woman that you want your daughter to look up to. Kids are stretching for role models these days. When Hannah Montana is naked on construction equipment and “Teen Moms” are considered celebrities, wouldn’t it be grand if your daughter could go to school and say, “I want to be just like my mom when I grow up?”
• Take pride in your appearance. Not because you want the world to see you as sexy, but so you can look at yourself and be happy with what you see. It does wonders for your self-esteem when you can walk into a room looking fabulous. It takes two extra seconds to put on an accessory or brush some makeup on your face. When you do something a little extra, you feel it on the inside. You are worth those two extra seconds.
• If you’re going to drink, don’t get white girl wasted. At the party, there is always “that girl” and, trust me, I have been her more times than I care to admit. It’s not as fun the next day, and you will find yourself getting invited out less and less because no one wants to babysit the hot mess every weekend. You can go out and have just as much fun dancing with the girls, sipping some cocktails, and getting some numbers without turning into Ke$ha.
Let’s bring a little class back to our area. It’s good for society, good for those who look up to us, and good for ourselves. We don’t need to be Scarlett O’Hara, but we really don’t need to be Miley Cyrus either.
