The Punk Rock Thing..

When I was in College and a good bit of highschool, I listened to HardCore and Punk rock music (Youth of Today, Bold, Minor threat, Gorilla Biscuits, the business, 7seconds, Screeching Weasel, Sham 69.. und so weiter) The philosophy, and the energy appealed, and still appeals to me. For most of this time, I looked how I look now: short hair, Levis, chucks/docs/barefoot, and some sort of t-shirt. I tried some of the other stylistics of that sort: fred perry shirts.. I still have a few I like. Flight Jacket served me well for years, but I've long since taken the badges and buttons off it. Dyed hair lasted about 3 days, too messy, I sweat too much. Piercings were fun, but they are all gone. I have a couple tattoos and plan to get one more, but the logistics of it are.. complicated.
Anything more than that never felt like me. A lot of it had to do with being in St. Louis. The scene there was very exclusionary. I was never "More punk/skin/ruder than you." It's just not in my makeup. It was too much work for validation from people, too many of which I thought very little of (the others were my friends no matter what I looked like).
For the people in this world want to rock dyed hair, mohawk, a jean jacket covered in badges, tie-dye, black nail polish, khakis and a blue oxford shirt: if it's you, that's great! But it doesn't make you better/worse than anyone else or really all that different. Have fun and be happy with the way you look, but a way of dress is not a way of life, and vice versa. Clothes are a covering, and a means of expression, but they don't tell who you are. They say what you want them to. Don't mistake someone who doesn't care to express themselves to you for someone with nothing worth saying.
Happy Tuesday!
Mahalo.