the oc factor

i've been contemplating the effect of the oc factor in the culture of southern california. having spent some time there last weekend, i can say with quite a bit of assurance that if you are a female resident and are not thin, tan, blond and have REALLY white teeth--and of course, the hopelessly cute clothes that go along, and the manicure and the pedicure and ...you get the idea. if you don't have those things going for you in that bailiwick, it's likely that you are a housekeeper or hotel maid or grocery clerk...someone in the "service sector" whose function is to service these denizens of perfection.

i admit it, it all started innocently enough...my incredible (DARK HAIRED) daughter in law heather took me shopping for a dress appropriate for a wedding to which i was going but was CERTAINLY not a member of the bridal party or family...(more on this later).

as we perused the dresses, she constantly said, "no. you already have a dresss just like that. i've seen you wearing it for years!" and finally, we found something that looked appropriate to her young and lovely eyes and was not too painful on mine, since i was the one before the mirror in the dressing room. "floaty" is how she described it, without making me look like a pillow or a jewish grandmother.

this was a "designer" dress, (altho it was a pedestrian designer)...something i don't ever buy, except at the thrift shop, where i find that liz claiborne is my heroine. (at least her styles from years past appeal to me!)

it wasn't that expensive, but it was enough to set the wheels of the OC Factor in motion when heather suggested that i should lighten my hair a little, "to match the dress better." o dear. the dress had suddenly become all important and the likelihood of stopping the inordinate attention to detail became quite near and discomforting. in for a dime, or a designer dress, in for a dollar--or a raft of accessories, hairdos, mani- and pedicures...

the effect of buying this dress created a haunting of my consciousness for weeks. i didn't even look at it again but it was sticking out of the consciousness file drawer in the back of my head, dangling a sign that read, "NEEDS ACCESSORIES."

there was far, far, too much time spent shopping (i had truly forgotten what this hunt for the right purse or pair of shoes was like, so the renewal of this experience apparently so common to those fashionistas in the OC gave me great sympathy for them. no wonder they are all so thin, so stressed. you can only look at so many accessories without going into meltdown and wanting to wear red Converse hi tops!)

the coup, however, was that the Steve Madden shoes were from last season (or who knows how many seasons ago)...and were 12 bucks. i can do that. the bag was some really cheap off brand but the bag WAS (in body, not anywhere else), leather. i guess i can tear it apart to make a small pillow when the handle falls off (soon). but it was acceptable and who knows, perhaps even the designer dress was last season's as well. i just don't care enough any more. (is THAT why i am NOT thin, blonde, tan or rich enough?

bottom line, the event was one in which i could indeed have worn the red converse and no one would have cared. the bride was barefoot and the groom and his men all wore checkered Vans. for all the wasted energy, i received only the realization that i indeed am less and less a fashionista and if the fashion police come after me, they'd may as well just shoot me now!

But there is a corollary to this that is the point of the discussion. i have realized that in most socal churches, the OC factor is alive and well. women in christian leadership in this borough tend to be thin, blonde, fashion conscious and have great teeth. yes, indeed, there are women of other hair colors, and yet...it seems that the higher up the ladder we go in christendom, there is no getting away from blonde hair and skinny bones. is this our way of saying that even blonde chicks are accepted in the family of God? or is it more like, "as it was in high school, so also shall it be in church, that the OC factor reigns just under the radar of the Most High Himself."
(2nd Brittney 4:13).

Conversely, is this why God loves the Koreans and the Indians and the brown people all over the world and does phenomenal miracles among them? could it be that even He is fed up with the OC factor and says, in effect, "Look, kids, if you want it to be about how you look, that 's just great. Have fun. Be cool. You've got your reward."

But He looks around at the Dalit girls....brown, brown, brown, with dirt, with genes, with that leftover outcast-ness that will never ever make them OC beautiful. And He says, perhaps, "You are beautiful. I can see you instead of your outsides. And I really like brown. I came to the planet in brown. I didn't have any OC factor at all, except maybe those really good teeth that come from living in the poverty of no bad food to eat. Brown is good. Let's zap the enemy together and kick up our heels!"

Hm. It's not that being OC beautiful is a bad thing. it's just that our culture has made it THE thing. in the wake of the years of overblown "diversity" talk, it is the one consistent cultural current that shows no signs of stopping. for as the old ranger would say, "follow the money," while perhaps the old prophet would say, "follow the Master."