Don't put modesty aside

A FRIEND asked me what I thought about Bench's latest underwear show at the Araneta Coliseum, coyly called Understatement, based on some pictures in the papers.

My quick reply was to say, sorry, I don't waste my time commenting on such vulgar, cheap and indecent show. To me it was commercialism at its most raw and shameless, a clever marketing ploy with a wicked twist.

What pains me most is to learn that prominent men and women were involved. And they seem able to do it with impunity. They are even praised, a classic case of the naked king who said he was in golden robes.

You don't belabor the obvious. It was purely meant to tease and to be naughty. It was meant to titillate certain kind of people. Could these be the gays, the vain, the curious, and those who want their sex hormones to go wild?

It looks that way. It looks like that is the market niche to which shows like Bench's try to cater. The pictures, the reviews seem to validate this.

Okay, the world is big enough to fit all sorts of people. We should not complain. Let's just bear it, if we have to.

Problem is it can cause some heavy collateral damage. Its corrupting potential is not negligible.

Of course, at the moment it's hard to say how much corruption has been inflicted on the young, innocent and naïve, and on those still unclear and confused about their gender. But corruption there surely is.

People behind the show may rightly say that it was meant to be art, or to be a celebration of beauty, especially that of the human body, or to be an expression of masculinity and femininity, etc.

Would it not be nice to show from time to time some perfect abs, pecs, butts, biceps and other curves and bulges? Would it not be good to celebrate human sexuality by indulging in some eroticism? You know, it's not all the time that we do these. Come on, don't be a killjoy! Be human sometimes. Besides, we have artistic freedom, right?

But aren't we missing something even more important and crucial here? Can we say that with this show we are praying and adoring God, and giving something authentically good to others?

I really hope and pray that we all can be more sensitive to some inner personal values and learn to integrate them when coming up with public extravaganzas.

Okay, it might be asking too much for all of us to so sensitive. But allow some of us to raise a point every time we feel an infraction is made in public decorum. We have to help one another, and so we should just learn to hear everyone's views.

I feel that many of us seem to exploit the civilized principle of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, until proven guilty in some court of justice.

Problem is our justice system can cover only our external deeds and often is silent on the workings of our internal world. And yet human life and morality depends a lot on our internal world of intentions, conscience, desires, etc.

We should feel the need to integrate the internal with the external values of our life. Among this internal value that has significant external manifestation is modesty.

It's the virtue that tells us first of all that even in our natural setup and even without considering our sinfulness, we may not and even should not show to others certain things in our lives and of our bodies.

Why? Because they are simply very intimate and personal things. They involve only the individuals concerned. You normally don't show your butt to the others unless something is wrong with you. Much less the more intimate parts.

Now, given the weakened condition of ours due to sin, the necessity for modesty becomes even greater. We have to very refined and modest in our words, in the way we dress, in the way we act, if only to avoid scandal.

Even if the scandal is objectively found to be baseless, we should try our best not to cause or occasion it. This is commonsensical. Given our weakened condition we have to be extra careful with one another.

Modesty is the virtue that helps us live in naturalness and normality. It can only indicate a certain dominion of our own selves, a certain level of maturity, a certain awareness of what is objectively good and bad for us.

It is the virtue that helps us respect each other as a person, making us understand why we should not show much less talk about certain things with others, and why we should put a limit to our curiosities.

It's a virtue that enables us to live refinement with everyone, putting more contrast between the animals and us. It's what may immediately distinguish us from the brutes.