A Brief Story of Gratitude & Underwear
Many of us are caught up in this unknown and unsettling time. This time where the word ‘viral’ is quite literally (and figuratively) evolving by the day. And as I’ve tried to make sense of all that is happening around us, trying to place things into a grateful perspective and focus on a near and positive future…I’m reminded of a similar bane that plagued millions of people just before the 21st century began:
Tighty-Whities
For the first 22 (or so) years of my life, the term ‘underwear’ carried a connotation that I couldn’t simply describe as negative. It was beyond that. It was torturous.
It seems that in the 7000 years since mankind had invented the loincloth, the first evidence of undergarments, there had been little-to-no innovation. In hindsight, how could underwear have existed for 7 millenia, and never have extended past the inguinal region. You know…that junction between the abdomen and the leg, sometimes just referred to as the groin.
Why did historical designers, tailors and clothiers, only find it necessary to affix their concealing and/or protective fabrics…just below the groin?
Had they not experienced the daily discomfort that, by 21 years of age, had become such a part of my daily existence that I had already accepted it as an inevitable burden that I would carry through life?
You see…beyond the fact that tighty-whities clung to the groin area with a thick sewn seam, their design promoted a much more insidious condition. Chafing.
To quote the more functional definition, given by Wikipedia: “Chafing refers to the irritation of skin caused by repetitive friction, usually generated through skin to skin contact…”
And I think you’ve already figured out that I’m talking about a specific area and type of chafing… Inner thigh chafing.
Throughout my youth, as I developed…my thighs, they grew. And it was around 7th grade that I had started to notice them actually rubbing, as I walked. I didn’t know it at the time, but my battle with chafing was just beginning.
Fast forward, through my high school and college years…filled with sports and heavy weight training like power cleans and squats. My thighs, they grew. And as they grew larger, so did the chafe.
At one point, not knowing who to turn to or where to go for help…I found myself using copious amounts of baby powder to ease the friction. And it became harder and harder to conceal. How was I to explain a small ‘poof’ of white smoke, every time I sat too fast? I was becoming a social outcast, caught between my pursuit of a 600 pound squat, and my desperate desire to walk freely, without discomfort and heat.
Enter the Boxer Brief
I don’t remember the day, but it was sometime in 1996…when I first discovered the boxer brief. A combination of boxer, and “tighty”…the boxer brief extended fabric past the groin, on to the mid-thigh.
At once, I had discovered a pair of underwear that provided control (as opposed to the traditional boxer), and protected my swelling inner thighs. (TMI?)
– To say that my life took on a new and brighter trajectory that day, would be an understatement.
– To say that I’ve used any other form of underwear since that day, would be a lie.
– And to say that as I walk freely, that my comfort and gratitude sometimes transforms my stride into a sashay, would be…just about right.
Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.”
No matter our differences, no matter our systems of belief…during this unknown and unsettling time, I think we could all use this reminder, of the Fruits of the Spirit.
And to further shift our perspective, and to utilize the power of gratitude to see us through…I highly suggest you adopt a simple change, and wear the boxer-brief version of your Fruits of the Loom.
