Bob Newhart and I are contemporaries. We came to adulthood when white shirts with button-collars and narrow ties were the new style. That’s why Newhart named his comedy “the button-down mind;” it indicated a particular age, a new form not only of collar but culture.
I am going this morning to Bay West [Community College] LIFE. LIFE means Learning is For Ever. Everybody there will be of and from the button-down generation, so I decided I would wear a white button-down shirt under my Christmas sweater. I have lots of white shirts, left over from a previous life, and no place to wear them, especially since their collars have shrunk and no longer fit my neck. Thus they go well under pull-over sweaters.
I noticed in the mirror that the buttons on the collar were not buttoned. I seriously considered leaving them that way. No one will see them under my sweater, anyway. Besides, it’s a sign from God. If God wanted those buttons fastened, then God would do something about it.
We do that in old age, look for signs from God. Old men wear three different plaids together because they were the next 3 garments up in the closet, and that is a sign from God that they should be worn together. Old women wear running shoes to church with the laces untied because if God wanted them tied, God would do something about it. Not caring what people think and not being able to reach our shoes has nothing to do with it—we’re just paying attention to the signs from God.
I fastened my collar buttons. You can’t be of the button-down generation if you’re not buttoned down. Still, that’s one of the blessings of old age: more time to pay attention to the signs from God.
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