Up by the belt loops

I stood behind a young man at the post office Tuesday afternoon.

“Behind” is the operative word here.

His jeans hung way below the accepted belt line. I’m pretty sure his buckle was somewhere below his thighs and above his kneecaps.

Maybe one day fashion designers will make pants that are supposed to fit that way. But, for now, it certainly is a strange way to dress. Or half-dress.

Kind of like wearing the sleeves of your shirt around your neck. The old square hole in the round peg. Or something like that.

Hey, it’s a free world. He can wear that denim around his ankles if he likes. But, if you’ll excuse me, I would rather look the other way.

I’m convinced the only reason young men behave this way when they choose their attire for the day is because they derive great pleasure from shocking people.

If we would simply ignore it, the entire fad would go away. But it bothers us. And they know it bothers us. And that’s why they do it.

Hooray for Plains, the famous little hometown of Resident President Jimmy Carter. Folks are calling for a crackdown – no pun intended – of young people wearing “droopy drawers.’’

Several members of city council have asked city attorney Jimmy Skipper if the town has the authority to tighten the belt on “sagging.’’

This futile fashion statement is said to have started with prison inmates in California who were denied the used of belts. So down slid the pants in protest. Then it spread into rap music and hip-hop, although my guess is that it would be rather difficult to hip or hop with your belt loops that far south of the equator.

Efforts to pass dress code legislation has failed in other places, like Louisiana and Virginia, and I expect it might in little Plains, too.

It is probably one of those unenforceable laws, anyway.

But bring it on, anyway.

We could call it the “No Child Left (or Right) Behind.”