antinomian.com

Riding “The El” this week, I’ve seen some pretty atrocious examples of parents forgetting what it’s like to be a kid. First, a woman and what I’m assuming to be her two sons, one of whom is wearing something unremarkable, but the other older one has on a t-shirt that reads: “My mom thinks I’m special.” I mean, that’s great and everything, but seriously, lady! Did you go to some bizarro school where kids weren’t looking for every opportunity to belittle and demean each other? The shirt was kind of big for the kid too. It really seemed like maybe what happened was that it was intended for some malnourished emo-dude to wear “ironically,” but somehow ended up in the kids department at Target. Or I don’t know, I guess it’s possible that this kid was just the coolest kid ever and doesn’t give a fuck what other people think. I hope so, anyway, because as we all know: “Kids can be so cruel.”

Okay, so the second incident concerns a much younger kid, probably about 6 or 7. Now I’m hoping that this means his classmates won’t be able to find the fun-of-making opportunity afforded by his shirt. But (some) kids are always smarter than you think, so it may be too late for this guy. His mom has dressed him in a bright red T-shirt, reading:

Front – “Coolest Kid.”
Back – “Period”

Again, perfectly acceptable if you’ve got the ironic distance to pull it off. But tell me this. Would you want to be walking around grade school or Jr. High wearing a bright red shirt with “Period” on the back? I didn’t think so.

Finally, props to the middle aged man, riding the train alone wearing an “I’m With Stupid” shirt. Perhaps he was just trying to keep people from sitting next to him? If so, I applaud his rhetorical skill. Otherwise, I’m afraid the shirt is just all the more appropriate. =)