I See Nude People - Everywhere!

How hard are you willing to work for something you believe in?

No. Allow me to rephrase that.

If you believe in something with everything that is in you, as if it is the utmost imperative, that upon which the entirety of the universe hinges, will you give your all, fight with everything that is in you, no matter the cost, though it might mean your job, your reputation, your standing in your community, that everyone you meet will look at you and shake their head in scorn, see you as the worst reprobate they have ever met, go out of their way to avoid speaking with you, tell everyone they know not to speak with you and that no one who is decent should ever even have anything to do with you, that you are, in fact, the most vile scumbag on the planet and should be locked away, far away, from all decent human beings so as not to infect the rest of humanity, lest you somehow manage to infect all others with whatever it is that you have?

Regardless of how everyone else might treat you as a consequence of your actions due to your beliefs, if you personally believe in your cause strongly enough to brave all that may be exacted upon you, you owe it not only to yourself, but also to your cause to see it through, regardless of the outcome. There are few throughout history who have been willing to pay this price and of those, most have indeed paid the price with all that they had.

The framers of the Constitution of the United States of America believed so strongly in attaining independence from Great Britain that they pledged their wealth and their lands in order to see it through, and most of them paid with that very price and more.

Those who wanted to see slavery outlawed in America were willing to sacrifice their lives, wealth, and property, and again, many, if not most of them lost everything as the War Between the States waged on for far too many years, brother fighting against brother as the blood of Americans was spilt upon American soil for the right to see all Americans free, not only white Americans.

Throughout history, not only in America, but in many nations across Europe, Africa, Asia, and other places, people have given their lives to see their dreams made into reality, but again, here in America, Martin Luther King Jr. even delivered his famous speech entitled, “I Have a Dream,” wherein he delineated how he envisioned a world where, in using the vernacular of 1963, Negros and whites would be able to sit down together, eat together, and do all things together, as Americans, free from the hatred of skin color.

I too have a dream that is similar to the dream of Dr. King, only instead of looking at the color of people’s skin and discriminating against one another on account of skin color, my dream consists of being able to cease all discrimination based upon whether someone’s skin is covered or not. That’s right, my dream is that one day all across America, from California to Maine, from Florida to Washington, and everywhere in between, all people will be able to live together in spite of whether they are clothed or bereft of all covering. It is a certainty that every single person who has ever been born upon this Earth has been born completely nude, and yet to a one, if you walk outside as an adult, walk down the street to the grocery store or the bowling alley or the movie theater or one of any number of stores or shops or any other kind of business that might exist without a stitch of clothing covering any part of your body someone will call the police and you will be arrested for indecent exposure at the very least.

And yet I defy anyone to tell me exactly what it is that is indecent about a nude human body. We don’t decry dogs or cats or birds or any other type of creature as being indecent simply because it doesn’t have anything covering its natural form, so why is it that the human form is considered that way when its natural skin, that with which it is born, is not artificially covered with cloth or leather or plastic or something else? What is it about the human body that demands it be considered “indecent” when it is viewed in its nude and natural state?

Most people have a difficult time coming up with any answer to this question, and I consider that as being because deep down they know there is no answer, that humans are not meant to cover their bodies, unless it be for warmth and comfort. Some people, of course, will say it is for matters of “decency,” but have a difficult time explaining exactly what that means. Certainly when they try to go to the Bible, what most consider the final answer to this question, as do I, they still have a difficult time finding verses of Scripture to fit their argument, but I can find quite a few to back up the argument for living life nude, especially right from the beginning in the book of Genesis.

But this article isn’t about the Bible and what it says. This article is about what you might believe and what I believe in nudism and fighting for it.

Had Martin Luther King Jr. and others not fought for equality for Negros, or as we commonly say today, Black people or African Americans, these same Americans would not enjoy the equality they do today. It is because of this fact that Nudists need to wake up, stand up, show up, and speak up, in order to gain that same equality, for Nudists are in the same position today as the Negro was in 1963. Were Nudists to walk into any establishment without clothing they would be treated at least as badly if not worse than the Negro was in 1963. They would be beaten, cussed at, abused, arrested, and all for being nothing more than who they were born to be, and hated for being so.

There is an irrational fear at seeing a naked human being and clothed people tend to lash out when they see one, especially if they see one in a place where they don’t expect to see one. Certainly if you go into the YMCA or another fitness club and walk into the locker room you would expect to see some form of nudity while people are changing from street clothes to workout clothes as well as taking showers after working out, but if you were to see someone walk into your favorite restaurant and sit down at the table next to you completely nude you might find your brain going into overload trying to understand why that person wasn’t wearing any clothes and what he thought he was doing coming into a restaurant and sitting down amongst everyone else that way? Some people would undoubtedly attack that nude person while others might only call 911 and report the presence of a lunatic without clothes.

I am here to tell you there is not only nothing wrong with being nude it is actually the most normal thing there could possibly be. The actual problem is with those who insist upon covering their perfectly natural skin with clothing in order to hide it from everyone else. Certainly I can understand the need to cover one’s body when the weather gets very cold and dictates doing something to keep warm when going outside to do whatever needs to be done while out and about, but once back inside the confines of your own home or even when inside your place of work, or even when inside whatever establishment you have traveled to in order to shop for a while before heading home again, if it’s to be long enough to warrant removing your clothes, why not strip down in order to be more comfortable? Would you refrain from so doing simply because others objected or might get angry with you, even if it was perfectly legal for you to so do?

This brings us back to the question that began this article or at least a modified version of it – how hard are you willing to work, how much are you willing to give, at what point will you throw in the towel and give up when attempting to reach the goal you previously set before you? If it seems just too hard and it seems as though others might get too angry, if you don’t think you can stand up under the pressure of being screamed at, cussed at, possibly having someone throw something at you or hit you and all because you showed up at a peaceful protest (at least it’s peaceful on the side that you are on) stripped down to nothing other than perhaps a jockstrap or something similarly revealing, yet still able to keep you from being arrested, simply to prove that there is nothing wrong with the natural human body, where will you draw the line? If you are not willing to “go the distance,” which is a line drawn from foot races where it is necessary to keep running until each person crosses the finish line, even though they might have come in dead last, then perhaps you need to reconsider your reasons for what you are doing. Me? I got into this over 25 years ago and committed myself to seeing it through to the end. I want to walk down the street without a stitch of clothing on and know that I am perfectly legal everywhere I go. I want to eat in any restaurant I choose and not be thrown out because of the sign that says “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service,” because the law says I can’t be turned away for not being clothed. I want to do my grocery shopping or put gas in my car or any number of things I do now, but do it all as nude as the day I was born and know I worked hard to gain this equality, not just for me, but for everyone all over who feels the same way and all those who have yet to be born who might choose to forgo wearing clothes because it feels so much better to feel the sun on their skin and the breeze as it gently wafts its way along. I want to be nude just because I can, because being nude is what I love being best, because that’s just who I am.

I see nude people and I see them everywhere, every place, doing all kinds of things all the time, and it’s the most amazingly beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I hope one day I see it for real and I hope it never ends.

Read Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech.