Maybe I am completely missing the product benefit of buying no-iron, wrinkle-free shirts, but isn't it reasonable to think that the reason I buy them (other than needing an endless supply of white shirts for all the church meetings I attend) is for the express purpose of NOT having to iron them? I stand by the dryer attentively waiting for the perfect moment to pull the shirts from the dryer to minimize the wrinkling, yet they come out looking like poorly-done origami.
I work in advertising, so I am no stranger to exaggerated product claims, but to put an icon of an iron with a big "X" over it on the "how-to-care-for" tag is borderline criminal. I used to think "permanent press" meant that the fabric had been pressed once and that would be the last time it ever needed to see an iron. I've now come to understand that permanent press really means, "this shirt is going to take forever to iron."
What's the point of my rant you may ask? Good question. I'll sum it up this way; Life takes work. Over the past couple of years, I've had lengthy discussions with people who have grown tired of ironing out the wrinkles in their life. Sometimes it's the daily struggle of dealing with teenage children, a family illness, a stressful job, or a marriage that is strained because of poor communication (more often than not, it's NO communication). Whatever the case, these people want a release from the work that comes with living.
As any Latter-day Saint will attest, we are the busiest bunch of bees to ever come out of a hive. We tend to define ourselves by how many meetings we attend, the length of the lessons we teach, and how many creative ways we can add vegetable shavings to Jello. Add a few weeknights and Saturdays of soccer games, dance recitals, garage sales, scrapbooking conventions, and suddenly a normally happy-go-lucky mom is on overload. The layers of activity that were meant to enrich her life become the very things she wants to escape - too many wrinkles in the no-iron shirt.
So, how does our over-worked, stressed-out mom or dad respond to the demands on their time and energy? They want to take a "break" from Church. The first time I heard that in my office, my chin left a dent in the veneer on my desk. I said something like, "Let me see if I understand you correctly. Your life is full of so much stress, contention, and anxiety that you want to withdraw from the one stable source of peace and calm available to you?" Sometimes they nod, sometimes they nod and sob, and sometimes they ask me if my chin hurts.
If serving in the Church, or simply attending Church (no matter what the religious affiliation) is suddenly on the list of things adding stress to life, Church has lost its true meaning. Whatever we do should strengthen our core beliefs, not weaken them. I've done my fair share of complaining about the "administrative" part of being a Bishop; all the meetings, figuring out the budget, managing all the callings in the ward...did I mention the budget? But I am truly uplifted from the service, no matter how trivial or small it may seem. "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God" is a healthy way to look at it. If serving God is causing stress, it's not the service required, but the perspective that needs adjustment.
Sometimes it's okay to wear a wrinkled shirt, as long as we can wear it with a smile (it also helps to wear a jacket, then you only have to iron the front).
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