On Wearing a Suit at Work
Few of us men wear suits anymore at work. I still do on special occasions - but it's only just that: on special occasions. So special are these occasions that whereas I used to automatically and effortlessly put on shirt, tie and suit each morning, now donning this garb requires a certain degree of concentration and effort. And for some time after, it almost feels "unnatural" walking about with this "formal" garb.
Anyway, the other day I found myself contemplating what suit and shirt and tie I would wear the next morning, a day that called for a suit. After getting myself all dressed up after fits and starts, I headed for the train, oddly self-conscious in my fancy garb as I trudged through a neighborhood where hardly anyone dresses up anymore. How times have changed. Whereas wearing a suit was once de rigeur garb for the serious executive, now I'm feeling somewhat "out of place" in what were once "normal "work clothes.
(Passing by my dentist, who typically each morning sits on the stoop of the house where his office takes up the first floor, he greeted me with, "You look dapper this morning. Big meeting?" Dapper! Big meeting! That's what its come to in our informal age. You "dress up" in a suit and it must be that you're going to some really special event - in this case a "big meeting.")
Now I was always careful about how I dressed in the old days of everyday suit-wearing, but I sort of industrialized the whole routine: certain suits on certain days with certain shirts and ties, etc. The objective was not to have to think about it all very much. Thinking about how I dressed too much struck me as similar to thinking about lunch too much - as many of my contemporaries would do, and still do now. There must be more important things to occupy my time during the work day than how I dressed and what I ate for lunch!
So why do I bring all this up? I suspect you may not have thought about suits and lunch in this way. But in case you ever did, you may find this background an appropriate setting to gain a fresh insight into John the Baptist and his goings-about at the Jordan river all those centuries ago. This from Matthew 3: 1-6:
Miscellaneous thought: How might my colleagues and clients react to my wearing camel's hair rather than a suit or the usual "business casual"? What about eating some locusts and honey for lunch today rather than the usual salad bar or sandwich.
Well, never mind.
Anyway, the other day I found myself contemplating what suit and shirt and tie I would wear the next morning, a day that called for a suit. After getting myself all dressed up after fits and starts, I headed for the train, oddly self-conscious in my fancy garb as I trudged through a neighborhood where hardly anyone dresses up anymore. How times have changed. Whereas wearing a suit was once de rigeur garb for the serious executive, now I'm feeling somewhat "out of place" in what were once "normal "work clothes.
(Passing by my dentist, who typically each morning sits on the stoop of the house where his office takes up the first floor, he greeted me with, "You look dapper this morning. Big meeting?" Dapper! Big meeting! That's what its come to in our informal age. You "dress up" in a suit and it must be that you're going to some really special event - in this case a "big meeting.")
Now I was always careful about how I dressed in the old days of everyday suit-wearing, but I sort of industrialized the whole routine: certain suits on certain days with certain shirts and ties, etc. The objective was not to have to think about it all very much. Thinking about how I dressed too much struck me as similar to thinking about lunch too much - as many of my contemporaries would do, and still do now. There must be more important things to occupy my time during the work day than how I dressed and what I ate for lunch!
So why do I bring all this up? I suspect you may not have thought about suits and lunch in this way. But in case you ever did, you may find this background an appropriate setting to gain a fresh insight into John the Baptist and his goings-about at the Jordan river all those centuries ago. This from Matthew 3: 1-6:
Hmmm...leather girdle...locusts and honey. This sort of puts the whole wearing a suit or not and what to eat for lunch in perspective, doesn't it? At least it did for me.In those days came John the Baptist, preaching tin the wilderness of Judea. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight."Now John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region about the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Miscellaneous thought: How might my colleagues and clients react to my wearing camel's hair rather than a suit or the usual "business casual"? What about eating some locusts and honey for lunch today rather than the usual salad bar or sandwich.
Well, never mind.
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