When our kids were young we had them in karate lessons. We had them in for a couple years too. Paying each month and watching them in their cute uniforms, proudly advancing through various colors of belts.
I started to have second thoughts, however, as I watched some "advanced" brown belts training for their senior brown belt, which was just below black belt. See, for all the moves they had learned in class and practiced, they really shunned physical contact. And when they made it, it was all very carefully choreographed. IF a sparring partner threw a particular "punch" with a wave of the arm just so, they would block it. But only as things went according to script. It was obvious when any partner was out of step because, suddenly, their partner became very ineffective at blocking the jab that accidently came from left to right, not right to left.
As I watched these particular students, it seemed they had learned more about a peculiar form of line dancing than self defense. And they weren't just little kids.
Why tell this story on a nudist blog? Because just as there are whole schools of karate that really don't fight, there are "nudists" who inexplicably seem to shun getting naked. They may be officers in their nudist club, or even in a national organization but... warm sun's out, and there they are in their clothes again as always.
We're not interested in staring at these folk and we honestly can't say they stared at us. They just rarely, if ever disrobed. Sometimes never. Maybe you've known someone like this as there seemed to be a few in most nudist clubs and events we visited. Often the same people again and again.
We didn't "hate" them but we didn't understand them either. Why travel great distances to a nudist venue and not go nude? Maybe they just liked the camaraderie of their social group and didn't want to give it up even if nudity no longer appealed to them. Maybe they had a war injury. It's really not our business but we always wondered "why come here when there are millions of places you could swim in a suit or wear one on the beach if you want?"
A lifelong nudist we read about once was famous for his definition of a nudist as not someone who takes off their clothes, but who puts on clothes only when they have to do so. The Platypus has always liked that definition.
The Platypus doesn't want to disrobe. ... Just to avoid getting dressed in the first place.
I'm with the Platypus and avoid getting dressed when not necessary.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, those times I have to get dressed, I recall Sam the American Eagle's warning that we're all walking around naked under our clothes. But keeping the clothes on when you don't have to? I don't get it either.