THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502230149
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastwise
SOURCE: Ford Reid
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
I'm not a big fan of the O.J. Simpson trial, but neither am I one of those people who claims no interest in it, then precedes to discuss it in fine detail for half an hour or so.
Mostly, I turn it on as part of my well-developed work avoidance program. If you have ever worked at home, you may have a similar program yourself.
Working at home is wonderful. Without the distractions of an office full of ringing telephones and gabbing people, you can accomplish twice as much in half as long.
It's just that sometimes you miss those distractions. You wish that there was somebody to bother you, that there was somebody to sort of ease you into goofing off. You have to be awfully creative to waste half an hour all by yourself.
An old friend of mine, a Catholic brother of a teaching order who spent his life trying to keep high school boys in line, once said that boredom ``is not about not having anything to do. It is having plenty that you ought to do but not wanting to do any of it.''
So sometimes when I am bored, I flip on the Simpson trial. Like the office wag at the water cooler, it is always there.
What I have noticed is this: Except for the defendant, the lawyers and the police officers, nobody in California seems to wear coats and ties any more.
Witness after witness appears on the stand wearing open-necked sport shirts. So far, all of these people have been residents of the fancy neighborhood where the murders took place or employees of a very tony restaurant. In other words, these people could probably afford a jacket and tie. In fact, they all probably own at least one tie but choose not to wear it.
They could probably afford shaves, too, but that is another thing they seemed determined to do without. Not that they have beards, exactly. They seem to keep a perpetual three-day growth. How do they do that?
I am not here to defend ties. I don't really like them all that much myself.
But if I were going to testify at a trial, not to mention a nationally televised trial, I think I would wear a coat and tie. Like it or not, men in ties and women in dresses lend a measure of dignity to events that deserve it.
But, of course, this is happening in California where they recently passed a law prohibiting companies from demanding that female employees wear dresses to work. If they can't tell women to wear skirts, then they probably can't tell men to wear coats and ties, either.
I think I see a trend. They used to say that whatever was happening in California would hit the rest of the country in five or ten years.
I don't know if they still say that because I haven't been listening to them very carefully. But it could be true.
Soon the whole country could be dressing down for funerals, murder trials and other somber events.
I am against it. There is a time and place for everything, including ties. But then, no one in California ever asks my advice. by CNB