One thing I’ve discovered about Facebook: if I use a vertical photo in a post, it won’t show up on the title page.  And since I like using pics to entice people to actually read my stuff, here’s a horizontal shot that doesn’t tell you anything about my subject today:

And now a vertical photo that does:

I was working out like a hero this morning, surrounded by other heroes doing their fitness thing.  As I gazed at the sweating mass of humanity, one word came to me: BLACK.  “They’re all wearing black!”  A slight exaggeration but the trend was clear.

Then there’s me, sporting my yellow “Why not?” t-shirt.  I love wearing this shirt.  It’s inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Lore Nachtergaele two years ago.

I’ve worn goofy t-shirts for decades.  In Canada, people often came up to me to comment on the message.  In Belgium … hardly ever. 

There are lots of people roaming around Gent centrum today.  As I started my ten-minute walk home, I launched into experiment mode:

1.  Will anyone passing by say something about my shirt?

2.  Are there any other folks wearing clothes with silly messages?

***

And the survey says …

1.  No.  As far as I can tell, not even one person (of the 200 or so on the street) even glanced at my chest.

2.  Well, maybe.  One guy had a painting of a beach with a few small words that I couldn’t read.  That was it.  Most shirt-wearers displayed messageless solid colours.  Lots of black again.  The few words I saw were either companies (“Puma”) or sports teams (“Bulls 23”).  For the uninitiated, that one refers to Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls basketball team.

***

To “Why not?” let me add “Who cares?”  None of this seems relevant to anything.  But in the spirit of “So what?” I’ll continue walking … and wearing … and writing.