Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Pants. From the Indiana University Public Safety Office.


It's coldcolder than it's been in a while. This morning, every campus is experiencing temps in the teens, or colder, something that hasn't happened since the winter of 2010/11. Back then, Iron Man and The Hulk were the only Avengers to have movies, then-Governor Mitch Daniels was still contemplating a run for president of the nation, and having winter skip a year seemed just a pipe dream. So, not that far back at all, really.
So why do I keep seeing people in shorts, leggings, and mini-skirts on our campuses? I can only assume it's an act of youthful rebellion, displaying indifference to the elements as a proof of strength. But what it really is is short-sighted, foolhardy, and of no actual benefit to anyone.
Working in emergency management for IU for four years now, I've learned a lot about assumptions. So many disruptive incidents have at their heart, a flawed assumption. You have to strike a balance of course, since it is safe to assume the sun will rise tomorrow, and that gravity will still pull downwards. Somewhere in between assuming everything is going to be ok and assuming everything is going to go wrong, that's preparedness. 
And that's why I say preparedness is wearing pants. 

12 comments:

  1. Back when I was a lowly gradflake at Grandiose Mental State University, I taught freshman comp. One memorable day, memorable because it was the coldest day of the year, one of my students (a fairly typical specimen of that university, being an overly tanned, quasi-anorexic, trolling-for-a-husband type) arrived in class wearing a huge puffy coat...and a denim miniskirt. Her teeth were chattering, her lips were blue, and she kept that parka wrapped tight, all through the hour-plus class session.

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  2. Depending on the woman wearing the miniskirt, it is not correct that her wardrobe is benefiting nobody.

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  3. OK, I will admit that as an undergrad, on occasion in the winter, I would come to school wearing a T-shirt, loud floral surfer shorts, and Sperry Topsiders without socks (it was the 80s, don't judge). I did it just to irritate my profs. It worked.

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  4. I laugh, but then I remember the story a coworker from a few years ago.

    An Army wife, she and her Old South family got deployed to Alaska. They arrived in the early Spring when the temperatures were in the balmy low 30's. The "locals" were in shorts and t-shirts while she had her kids in snowsuits, thermal underwear, and parkas. Time passed. The next Spring, as soon as it got above freezing, her family got their summer clothes out and fit right in.

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    1. Well, yeah. When I visit my southern relatives in the cooler portions of the year, they're wearing long sleeves and sweaters; I'm wearing a t-shirt because it's so warm compared to where I live.

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    2. I saw a story in "Humor in Uniform" many years ago. The author was stationed in Alaska, waiting for the bus in deep snow. The bus arrived, he boarded and sat down next to an Eskimo woman.
      He nodded to her and said by way of greeting, "Sure is cold out."
      She gazed at him for a moment, the comprehension dawned on her face. "Cold, yes. Winter coming."

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  5. I kinda want a t-shirt that says "Preparedness is wearing pants" printed upside-down so it can be read after the shirt is put on.

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    1. I've been known to mentally inventory the pieces of clothing I'm wearing as I walk out the door, just to make sure I haven't missed something necessary for basic social acceptability. This is especially true in winter, when I often wear long johns under my other clothes. I don't have the figure for wearing underwear as outerwear.

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  6. Because style and attention-getting is the goal.

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  7. You're all over-thinking this. The reason they're dressed inappropriately for cold weather is that their parents aren't there to tell them what to wear. They haven't had to think for 18 or so years. Why should they start now?

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