Jumping in front of the metro

First off, I would just like to make clear that I in no way condone suicide or any suicidal methods. That being said, I suppose the most obvious reason why jumping in front of the metro is not OK is pretty obvious...you die!

Has this ever happened to you? You're on your way to work on a perfectly normal morning, you made it on time to the metro, and as you approach the platform you see that the train is dark, the engine has stopped and there are lots of disgruntled people standing around looking frustrated and confused. Suddenly you hear a barely audible voice over the PA mumbling something in French about the metro on whatever line you happen to be taking being shut down for an unspecified amount of time and thanking you for your patience and understanding. "Really?" you think to yourself, "again?". This is when you realize the most likely reason for this delay (that will result in you being late for work) is that some random person has decided to end it all and has thrown themselves in front of the moving metro. Jumping in front of the metro and making gazillions of people late for work or school or wherever is not OK. If you have to kill yourself, do it on your own time.

Let's also consider for moment the metro drivers. They are just driving along minding their own business when all of a sudden, BANG. A human body splatters on the front of the train right in front of their faces. Traumatizing much? Say what you want about the public transit system in Montreal but no one deserves to see dead bodies hurled at them and squished under their wheels. So I ask you, is it OK to subject these drivers to such horror? No it's clearly not.

Now once the person who has chosen to jump has done so and the metro has stopped running, someone has to clean it up. Imagine being the person who has that job. Not so much on the fun side. "Hey honey how was your day?" "Great sweety, I got clean up brains stuck between the tracks," Yeah, not so much. But they get paid ridiculous amounts of money so its OK right? No, it's not.

It's just not OK to jump in front of the metro. Don't do it. And if you know someone who is thinking about doing it, tell them not to. Realising of course that suicide is a bad plan to begin with but inconveniencing or traumatizing others just cuz you can't take it anymore is an even worse plan.

Wearing tights as pants

So you know how fashions and styles of the past have a tendency to come back and haunt us. For example, flared pants, striped shirts, big jewelry, plaid shirts, leg warmers, skinny jeans, etc. Well now from the good ol' 80s, (a decade of particularly "interesting" fashion including heels with wool socks) returns "tights". Whats wrong with tights you may ask? Nothing if they are being worn under skirts or dresses. The societal travesty to which I am referring is people wearing tights as pants. It's not OK.

Although we probably shouldn't, let's assume for a moment that wearing tights with a shirt long enough to cover your butt and crotch is acceptable. My beef is with those who seem to think that wearing tights with short shirts is OK. It's not. Tights are tights and pants are pants. I don't care if you have the most perfectly sculpted body in the world. Go and buy yourself a pair of uber tight pants if you must and if you honestly believe others want to see it, but for the love of all that is decent, tights are not pants. You know who I'm talking about, that girl or woman walking down the street leaving absolutely no contours of her rear end to the imagination and with ridiculous camel toe. How can anyone think this is fashionable, let alone attractive. Unless you are some sort of athlete like a gymnast or a dancer, or whatever, wearing tights as pants is not OK.

Now being a rather extroverted individual myself, I can understand how a person may want to attract attention to themselves. Clearly, to some, inappropriately snug, spandex-like, shiny textile around your lower body may seem like a good way to accomplish this. Personally, I believe that wearing clothes that compliment your body size and type is a far better idea (or you could always dye your hair bright green, just saying). Tights alone are not flattering on anyone, ever. Hence, they should not be worn as pants.

The worst part is that it is so deeply ingrained in our current fashion sense that people purposely purchase tights to wear as pants. While in a store one day looking for jeans, the salesperson asked me if I would like to try on a pair of denim coloured tights instead of jeans. I kept my horror to myself and politely declined, of course. But after a moment it hit me, you can buy tights disguised as jeans. Disguising your tights as real pants does not make them pants and does not make them any more OK to be worn as pants. A pattern only makes your not so cleverly disguised tights even less attractive.

So let's all repeat this together, just to make sure we have the concept clear in our minds: Wearing tights as pants is not OK.