Kathie has a 1964 photo of me posted on a cabinet in our kitchen. It has been there for months and this morning I wondered...WHY? It occurred to me that she keeps it there to remind her of what her husband used to look like in his prime...as opposed to what she is now living with.
The photo was taken when I was serving as a Building Missionary, in Sydney. I was wearing a white shirt and a narrow, black "string" tie, in the style of the Beatles. If one looks closely you can see my underwear through the shirt. I was wearing a white "singlet"...which in today's parlance would be called a "wife-beater-shirt".
As I looked at the photo I had one of those strange experiences which are hard to explain. I had worn "singlets" all my life up to that point. I had never asked ...WHY? It was just the culture...everyone did it. I had never given a thought as to the functionality...the usefulness of a singlet. I mean...a T-shirt actually does something useful; it covers the male upper body, absorbs perspiration and helps keep a shirt at least looking fresh. A singlet, on the other hand, is pretty much useless; it does not even cover the underarms and does nothing for underarm perspiration stains. A singlet fails to cover either chest hair, back hair or underarm hair. The only useful function that comes to mind is that the singlet covers useless male nipples. But I suppose it was cool...as opposed to hot, under the Australian sun. And to a lot of Australian men it was probably "cool" in the macho sense.
I recall that Australia hotels would often have to post Rules for Customers such as ..."No Shirt No Shoes No Services"...but often the more practical hoteliers would reduce that to ..."No Singlet No Service"...shoes were optional.
Don't worry about me too much. When you get old, strange things happen. You return to your childhood and start wondering WHY again. You even start questioning underwear. Well...let's not go there Tony.
