Thoughts on Uniformity in America

We had a class recently about the rationing of fashion and utilitarian clothes that people had to deal with during World War II. I never really thought about how people had to change their way of dressing back then. The wars that we’ve had in my life have been far away and in other countries therefore I have been pretty much unaffected by it.

If we had to ration our clothing today, I think it would be extremely interesting to see people’s reactions. My overall thought is that people would actually become more grateful for what they have and less frivolous. I think it might actually be a good way to take care of some of the spoiled Americans we have today. But it’s different now because a lot more people are independently wealthy and aren’t afraid to show it. Back then people didn’t want to show they had money during the war because it meant they weren’t being patriotic and were spending money on frivolities. Now people are always protesting the wars and not showing their support to our country’s causes.

I can’t imagine what it would take for our country to ever have to rationed clothing again. We have clothing factories in the U.S. and I’m sure there are fabric suppliers at our disposal as well. But I suppose not having access to the cheap labor factories that are in other countries would make a huge difference in price and availability. Also if we did have another World War where most countries were against us, we would most likely be using our own mills to make uniforms for the soldiers. Which is how they originally had the rationing of clothing I suppose.

People today take so much pride in their individuality I don’t know how people would be able to deal with the uniformity of rationed goods. As it goes for school uniforms, it creates a similiarity between all people groups. I think that is good and is something that our country needs. People spend too much time trying to set themselves apart with a lot of money and nice cars and big boats. Not to say that having that stuff is wrong, but I think that often times people put so much focus on those things that they ignore the really important things in life. Even though we are the richest country in the world, we still have an extremely high poverty rate. I wish there was a way we could instill this kind of uniform feeling among us and do something to help those less fornutate than ourselves. True, easier said than done. But if everyone just cut back a little, didn’t buy that 2nd cup of coffee every morning or took the bus instead of a cab, there would be a little extra something for that person with nothing.