So I was in a store and needed a new black t-shirt. I saw this cool black t-shirt and it described me to a T (no pun intended). The graphic showed an American flag under the slogan:
original
The t-shirt was only $5.99 and I happily bought it. I brought it home and tried it on. It fit very nicely and looked very cool. I decided to wear it the next day.
The next day I put on my new cool t-shirt and went out to do some errands. I thought about my new t-shirt calling attention to myself. As a person, I am unique, an original. EVERYONE is. It's true. I was also born and raised in America. To me the t-shirt simply and merely reflected the fact that I was an American, born and raised in the USA, an original American and happy to be an American. Of course, the actual original Americans were Native Americans, followed by the Vikings or Christopher Columbus (disputed), followed by the British colonists.
Suddenly, while wearing my new t-shirt, I had a sobering thought. OMG! The t-shirt called attention to me as a USA "original". What about all the immigrants and visitors who were not original to the USA? Would they be upset? Would they think I was being elite and divisive? And what about illegal immigrants? Would they think I was being xenophobic and racist? Hmm. In this day and age of extreme political correctness probably so. My t-shirt was politically incorrect? Offensive? Divisive? Racist? Would it make millennial college students run for a safe space? Yikes, if I wear this t-shirt I may get outrage and insults from other people; liberals and non-natural-born minorities might be offended when they saw my t-shirt. Would they verbally abuse and chastise me? Would some politically correct offended liberal nutjob punch me in the face, or rip the shirt off my back? Should I buy a gun (or a taser) to protect my t-shirt?
Huh. I bought a cool t-shirt which proudly and accurately reflected my opinion of myself and it turned out to be offensive and politically incorrect and insensitive? Huh. Was I a selfish prick? Did I not take into account every possible reaction to my t-shirt, including negative and overly sensitive politically correct reactions? Was I a bad person for buying this shirt? Could I even wear the t-shirt if its message was politically incorrect and offensive? Should I throw away my cool new black t-shirt and never wear it again? What should I do???
I don't know what I will do about my new cool black t-shirt. Right now, I'm wearing it. I am wearing it happily and proudly. And, by wearing it, maybe being politically incorrect.
The funniest thing of all is that, according to the label, my "USA original" black t-shirt was made in Mexico!
