Take Naked Selfies; Keep em Secret, Keep em Safe

A few days ago the Bare Platypus was going through some old photographs from his time as a young man of college age.  The Platypus is aging himself but, in that era, there were no digital cameras - at least not those owned by the general public. Consequently, there really are not pictures in which he appears bare. Similarly, there are no images of Mr. and Mrs. Platypus as nudists from the time they first got married.  There were some images that came later after their puggles came along and with the release of the afore-mentioned digital camera. (Oh, we suppose the Polaroid existed but we didn't employ it to such purposes.)

Know what? Nowadays we wish we had more nude images from our earlier days.  Not for any risque purpose,  you understand.  Just for "remembering when."  The same as we "remember when" in looking at ourselves in our college sweatshirts while attending our Alma Mater.  Or in a camp staff t-shirt.  It's all part of our life story and some of it is missing when it comes to the birthday suits.  We were more physically fit then.  Then there's happiness of a younger person "looking to the future" in our smiles.

With the proliferation of digital-camera-equipped cell phones and "selfies" these days, there's no reason for the "natural" part of your life to be missing as it is preserved in images.  BUT HEAR US OUT: We're not asking you to send us those images! (Please don't) We're not asking you to send them to anyone else! We're not asking you to post a nude on Tumblr during an alcohol-induced moment.  And, for heaven's sake, we're NOT advising you to store any such image(s) in cloud-based servers. (We recognize that, with some cell phones, images may automatically go to cloud storage - check your owner's manual for details and don't snap or post if there's a cloud that could be "hacked" as has happened to celebrities.)

No. If you have a nude image (even if a tasteful one), as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings advised Frodo about the all-powerful ring: "Keep it secret. Keep it safe."  But do consider keeping it.  The day will probably come when you'd like to take a walk down the lane of memories and have some of those memories include a detour through the nudist woods.  You will find the tasteful nude(s) you took to be meaningful to you.

We know thanks to the memories that we have taken after it became easier to do so privately.