All things proper

It’s ” Pajamas Day” at school, my daughter’s.

To fit in, outfit-proper, she needs to wear appropriate clothing.

It brought to mind two pajamas incidents in Vietnam’s volumous writing.

SVN Ambassador Bui Diem, in his ” In the Jaws of History” mentioned in passing that delegates from his country were wearing pajamas in hotel foyers (they must have taken after French aristocrats’ leisure traveling habits).

Another mentioning was ” the VC’s in black pajamas” (incidentally, to be context-appropriate, General Nguyen Duc Thang, head of the Pacification project, appeared in public wearing agri-laborers’ clothing i.e. all-black pajamas to not be an easy target at nightfall).

So it depends on context . Silk pajamas worn by Oil-rich in ” Fierce People” (Donald Sutherland) was OK.

PJ for school on PJ Day is encouraged.

All things in their places, times and settings = proper. Outfit can be changed out, but misspoken comments stuck. Mary McGrory of the Washington Star: ” if Nixon were a horse, I wouldn’t buy him”.

George A.W. Bush per Woodward : ” in Washington, if you need a friend, you might as well get a dog. But then, I’ve already got Barbara”.

And top it all, Mr Weiner’s sexting that placed him in the Pantheon of our digital archive (just Google it).

” I have been waiting for you since early morning” (sounds like a French movie ” I have loved you so long” Il y a long temp que je t’aime) by Big Minh, who headed SVN last transitional government (apparently, NVN tanks got lost in the city, the same time the US was extricating itself – some still in pajamas). Btw Big Minh was in the ballot for an earlier Election, then withdrew yet embezzled the campaign funds.

John Wayne piggied back on a Reagan (then CA Governor) meeting with SVN President Thieu – after his San Clemente meeting with Nixon – off his Hollywood chauvinism ( to those anti-war protesters, I would just do this – gesture of slamming two heads together to crack them). This was around the time of Kent State.

To be proper it all depends on context, times and settings. Back in the 70’s , it’s hair down to the knees, almost to where running socks got pulled up. Then, men wore suspenders, during the 80’s when ” Greed is Good” ( preferably while in your personal Stairmaster overlooking Manhattan.

Of late, no more ties for formal . No more bell-bottom blues. Only belly for men, and no belly-dancing by women (not proper in our post Me-Too era).

So it’s Pajamas Day. What have you done? What do you hope for on Mother’s Day?

A day in the life when decency and appropriateness not tossed aside, not “ winning is the only thing” and only nurturing . Let that “victory at all costs” mindset spills over from ball court to court of law, where lawyer and witness traded barbs. New times bring out new version of heroes, from zero to hero, from rejected stone to corner stone, from pajamas in the bedroom to pajamas in hotel lobbies..

All things proper in their right setting at the right time. That includes the bending angle of our Moral Arc, the fullness Judgement Day, the Moment of Truth and the Day of Reckoning. I’ll y a long temp que je t’aime. Given the context of history, we found leaders with tantrum who are most likely slip up than to keep things altogether, all proper. If they were horses I wouldn’t buy them.