I think I know who invented this…

In case you missed it, last Friday, May 7, was “No Pants Day.” It was the last in the rush of truly significant events — Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you), Cinco de Mayo (when maybe a ship carrying a load of mayonnaise was sunk), and then on Friday, “No Pants Day.”

I fully participated as you can see from the photo below. (I tried to emulate a no-pants event once before wearing a long trench coat with no socks and my pants rolled up so they couldn’t be seen — I was asked to leave the office. Maybe more to be revealed in a later post.)

I first learned about this from a couple of cartoons in Friday’s Albuquerque Journal, where artists had made reference to the event. I looked it up online, and found initially that the main reason for “No Pants Day” was just random silliness. A closer investigation, initiated by my wife, said it was actually part of an effort to encourage people to donate gently used clothing to help the more unfortunate and homeless. I’m all for that, especially considering that after COVID-19, my size 34 pants are no longer useful and my waist prefers a size 35. I’m sending a batch of these pants to various collection points.

But the main point of this blog is to credit my best next door neighbor ever, who will remain nameless but who lives just west of me, with likely initiating this significant event. He can occasionally be spotted picking up the newspaper, hauling out his trash gondola and occasionally just scoping out the early morning neighborhood activities without pants — even in 28 degree weather. Luckily, almost no one ever sees him in this mode except for me. Yes, he does wear some kind of undergarment, so he is not on any deviant list. He has become my role model for freedom of expression and I am honored to have him as a friend and neighbor. And no, he really doesn’t do this much — it’s just mostly a joke between us. 

So if you have spare pants, please donate them to your local homeless shelter, Salvation Army, Good Will or other favorite charity — or maybe to my neighbor.