One size fits all

One size fits all

Does anyone know when the term one size fits all came into existence? I don’t. And neither does Wikipedia apparently. According to the entry in the most obvious encyclopedia on the internet states that “it has been in use for over five decades.” The other helpful tidbit from the entry was that it was “already a popular term in 1975 when Frank Zappa recorded the album ‘One Size Fits All.’ What? Okay, so no one knows for sure when it started. I do remember when I realized it was all a lie…at least in regards to clothing.

I swear that the one size fits all is the biggest piece of fiction to ever be passed off to consumers. Does it ever fit anyone correctly? A shirt is either too short, too long, too tight or too big. It’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears without the option of finding the one that’s just right. Bad enough that it’s permeated our clothing choices, but somehow it’s gone from a questionable clothing choice to a way of thinking. When did our society decide that one size fits all should be a defining characteristic of life? Now before I get labeled as just another nut job, let me make a couple of points.

Education. In 2001 Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act which was intended to help disadvantaged students get the education they deserved. At the time the concern was that students were being left behind in a system that was geared towards those that were either already inclined to academic success or had the financial resources to guarantee that same success. And it made a lot of sense as a concept. Education based on standards and measurable goals seemed to be a no brainer. Implementation became the problem. Measurable goals came in the form of a standardized test. And with the standardized test came accountability for both schools and teachers. The reality is that over the years we have taken education and applied the one size fits all approach. Teachers have been sidelined in favor of teaching to the test. If a concept isn’t on the test, then it doesn’t need to be taught. Instead of allowing teachers to best determine how to reach each student individually, they are required to teach to the masses. Forget the idea that every person, regardless of age, learns differently. And amongst all this homogenized learning and teacher accountability, we somehow have forgotten that students should be held accountable too.

Not every state bought into the one size fits all mentality of education. But enough did that it will take decades to undo the damage. And that’s assuming that we recognize what has been done and take steps to rectify it. Ask any teacher or administrator of a public school in a state that follows a strict adherence to standardization and they will tell you the same thing. Implementation of No Child Left Behind has been the worst thing to happen to public education in modern times.

Politics. The topic of politics has always been contentious. It is only recently that it has become completely divisive. I’m not going to spend a lot of words talking about the state of our politics. Not in this post anyway. And I’m sure the various political analysts have a litany of causes to explain the current political environment. In my opinion the simple explanation is that we want everyone to have the same political opinion. The fight is in the trying to prove to each other that one side is more right than the other. Instead of finding ways to combine our political leanings into some sort of compromise, we want everyone to agree to the same set of ideology. Simplistic thinking on my part, but not entirely wrong.

Religion. This one is easy. Religious conflict has been around for centuries. “Religious conflict is caused by intolerance against another’s religious beliefs or practices.” (Modern Diplomacy, Oct 2020) The Middle East is a prime example of this type of conflict. The Muslims in the region have been focused on the destruction of Israel and the Jewish state for years, for no other reason than a difference in religious beliefs. In the United States, the battle is more between Christianity and all other religions. Evangelicals believe that all Americans should be Christian and no other belief system should be tolerated. Sounds like a one size fits all mentality to me.

The idea that one size fits all is slowly permeating all aspects of what we do. Google controls 90.46% of the search engine market worldwide. Amazon controlled approximately 37% of the e-commerce retail market in 2017 with projections pushing it to 50% by the end of 2021. Facebook has 2.2 billion users with almost 500,000 new users added daily. Apple controls 64.6% of the tablet market share in the United States with it’s closest competitor at 13.7%. As we consolidate other areas of our lives, it feels like we are doing the same to our thinking. One size fits all does not truly exist in either clothing or anything else. We should eliminate the concept of standardizing our lives and our thinking. Independence used to be celebrated. It was independent thinking that was the force behind the greatest rebellion in history and behind the ongoing experiment that is democracy. Want to protect your way of life? Then celebrate the weird, the independent, the unusual…the different. Purge one size fits all. After all, the only one who benefits from the one size fits all concept is the one selling it.

Music memories –

My music choices have always been somewhat eclectic. I grew up on 50’s and 60’s rock and roll and R&B. As a youth I listened to the one hit wonders of the 80’s and what was then New Wave. In my 20’s, I leaned heavily to Classic and Hard Rock. I even listen to show tunes and Classical music. What I never listened to was country music (in any form) or opera. And I fully admit to being hard core anti-country music. No way was I going to listen to that twang music. I disparaged any mention of the country music genre. Head banging rock music was my thing. Metallica forever! Why would anyone want to listen to songs about tractors and cows. Ridiculous! The one guarantee I could always make is that I would never listen to country music. Laughable to even consider it.

And then around 2007 everything changed. At work I moved from a role in the Operations group to the Technology side of the business. New job. New boss. New staff. And unbeknownst to me at the time, a new music preference. My new co-worker and future friend also had eclectic music preferences but was predominantly into country music. Definitely the DJ of the department, the music was plentiful, varied and loud. Pretty much just the way I liked it. I don’t remember when country music shifted from tolerance to enjoyment for me. I just remember that certain songs would catch my attention. It started with humming to the melodies. Then singing the hooks and choruses. Then came the sneaking around. Yes, I would sneak into the office to do recon and try to determine the name of songs and the artists singing them. I had to be stealthy because I certainly didn’t want anyone to know that I was starting to really get into this country music thing.

I finally broke down and turned the radio dial in my car to the local country music station. The first country song to ever play over my car speakers was Blake Shelton’s, Honey Bee. And if you’ve ever heard the lyrics to this song, then you’ll know my conversion at this point was already complete. I laughed at the lyrics, but couldn’t get the catchy tune out of my head and before the song was over, I was singing along to the chorus.

You’ll be my soft and sweet
I’ll be your strong and steady
You’ll be my glass of wine
I’ll be your shot of whiskey
You’ll be my sunny day
I’ll be your shady tree
You’ll be my honeysuckle
I’ll be your honey bee

Honey Bee wasn’t the song that actually took me over the edge. It’s just the one that confirmed my music choices had changed forever. No, the song that firmly hooked me into the country music genre was Luke Bryan’s, Country Girl Shake it For Me. Yep. That’s the song that had me putting my heavy metal music off to the side. And if you think the lyrics to Honey Bee were bad, then you’ve never paid attention to those of Country Girl.

Get up on the hood of my daddy’s tractor
Up on the tool box, it don’t matter
Down on the tailgate, girl I can’t wait
To watch you do your thing

Shake it for the young bucks sittin’ in the honky-tonks
For the rednecks rockin’ ’til the break of dawn
For the DJ spinnin’ that country song
Come on, come on, come on
Shake it for the birds, shake it for the bees
Shake it for the catfish swimming down deep in the creek
For the crickets and the critters and the squirrels
Shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl

I still love this song. It’s fun. The music is catchy and you just can’t help but feel good after listening to it. So I gave up the sneaking around and dived head on into the country music. And I was lucky enough, that my cohort at the office was a font of information and didn’t seem to mind me asking a thousand and one questions. I wanted to know about the music, the artists, the songwriters, the industry…everything. I still refer to my friend as the great ambassador for country music and I don’t think they realize the impact it has had on me. Country music filled a hole in me that I didn’t know existed. And it’s certainly provided an escape during some tough times.

I still remember the first CD’s of country music that my friend gave me for my birthday. These were my first. How could I forget the CD’s that launched a collection that now is somewhere in the hundreds? In no particular order, these are the CD’s that started it all and are still one of the best gifts that I have ever received.

I still say never to opera music. Country music on the other hand…So many artists and so much to say. This won’t be the last entry regarding my obsession with country music. It’s just the beginning…

The last word –

“And no matter what dreams you’re chasing, Never get above your raising, May the simple things be amazing, On the journey of your life” – , Singer: Jake Owen, Writer(s): Ronnie Bowman, Troy Jones, “The Journey of Your Life“, album – Barefoot Blue Jean Night, 2011