Tied to Greatness: Everything Old Becomes New Again

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22: 6 NKJ

Charles Doss had a special closet for his neckties. It was a small closet but it housed at least 100 or more ties; and it housed his history. Every necktie he’d received as a gift from me and other family was in that closet as were his work ties and ties from his youth.

As a boy, Charlie and his brothers James and Earl were required to wear neckties to school and to church. Their daddy, Grandpa Charles made them wear a necktie. Grandpa Charles taught his boys how to tie a Windsor knot.

I don’t recall seeing my granddad without a necktie very often. He opted to wear the U. S. Postal Service issued necktie with his uniform, and except for extremely hot days, he always wore a necktie to carry mail on his route.

As a teenager, he taught me how to tie his necktie, believing I’d have to do so for my husband and for my son one day. I’ve yet to have a husband or son, but the lesson has not been wasted. Years ago, when I worked in the metropolitan school system, I bought a bag full of neckties from a resale shop, cleaned them and took them to the high school where I was stationed. One by one, I pulled a few boys aside and put the ties on them but not before teaching them how to tie a necktie.

For black men in this country, particularly old school gents like my uncle, James, wearing a necktie is the one thing that makes them feel important and of course, well put together and groomed. Black men know they are received differently when they look like they care about their appearances and when they walk in a certain authority. Wearing a necktie symbolized respectability, dignity and privilege.

Unfortunately, our current culture has little regard for the necktie and what it symbolizes. It’s hard to tell the difference from the boy who is an honor student from the boy slinging rocks on the corner. Sagging trousers, white tees and hooded jackets is the uniform of choice for many urban black kids. And sagging trousers are the bane of some municipalities’ existence as legislation has been written to ban this uniform.