Does nudism help re-assert your faith in humanity?
We spent last Friday to Tuesday at a local nudist club. The weather was perfect for remaining naked throughout the visit. We only wore some clothing to get to and from a nearby swimming pool which holds a weekly session for nudists. We wanted to go there to meet a few friends who attend the sessions who didn't have the free time to go to the club last weekend. We met some really nice new people at both places. Yesterday we cycled to a local nude beach where we met some friends, saw a few other nudists we'd not seen for ages and chatted with a few other people we'd not met before.
The main point of this post is to emphasise how good we feel after several days of nude socialising, with nudists we've known for some time and new people. I've said many times before how much I like meeting new people when we're all nude, when everyone is their natural self with no clothing giving out possibly fake signals. The last few days have underlined my conviction that nudism is by far and away the best way to socialise. At the club we ate our evening meal with new friends a couple of time, everyone was very relaxed and comfortable, which I put down to us all having been naked all day, as is often the case meeting new nudists was a very easy experience compared to how it can be sometimes in the textile world. A day or two of being naked socially removes more barriers than the textiles on our bodies.
We're going back to the nude beach today. A friend went on an organised nude bike ride last week and had a great time, not a WNBR event, our route to the beach passes along several miles of urban seafront so we won't be nude. One day perhaps!
After 18 months or so of varying degrees of lockdown nudism has continued to help keep me sane. Recent events have emphasised to me how good it is to be able to socialise among fellow nudists. Taking our clothes off is such a simple thing to do, yet many see doing it in public as a situation with so many barriers. Once you've got naked in public a few times it is so easy to do again, and again.
Does nudism help re-assert your faith in humanity?
I dont know that nudism improves my faith in humanity, but it does improve the likelihood that Ill enjoy the company of people I meet at resorts. The few small resorts Ive visited have been welcoming and friendly and Ill be returning to each as the opportunity arises. Good people are everywhere, theyre just easier to find at nudist resorts as theyve got nothing to hide. ;)
I believe that like most things, if you keep politics and religion out of the conversation, then every one gets along. I have met some wonderful people while visiting nude venues but our conversations have been more general on topics where we can find common ground.
Though I'd like to think so, It's a challenge on a daily basis here in the US. EVERYTHING you have a thought or opinion of is politicized. When at our club and following club rules, some members and resident there become angry if you're wearing a mask. It should just be a personal preference. like shaving ones pubic hair but it becomes political. Residents in our club fly flags, post sign and banners that are political, hateful and rude. These are the "nudists are the friendliest people", nudists, many nudists speak of. Taking ones clothes off and professing to be a nudists does not make one nice, friendly and respectful to others.
We met up with close nudist friends some time ago. We felt it was a safe place, a place where our love for one another and love for nudism stood above all. An agreement was made that politics and religion have no place in our time together that week and we went to bed thinking, "this is gonna be a good week!" One night, late in the week's stay, politics arose and it didn't go well. Our faith in humanity and our close friends diminished in minutes when a couple of them began to voice their true feelings and strong opinions, knowing that ours were at the opposite end of that spectrum.
These are what we considered very close friends and have been for over 20 years. Our political leaning has been a known quantity since the beginning of our relationship. It is now fashionable and acceptable, to them, to be rude, disrespectful, hateful and demeaning just because you think differently than they do about certain things.
Here in the US, we've seen far too many things and heard too many negative things to re-assert our faith in nudists humanity.
My faith in humanity was long ago overcome by humans. People will be people. True, social nudity can remove the labels and status symbols, but sooner or later, human nature will show through. At a nice nude resort once, I met many friendly nudists from different walks of life and different views. Then there was the aggressive environmentalist...she wasn't wearing anything to identify her as such...she wasn't wearing anything at all, nor was I. The resort had trash cans and recycling cans. They weren't beside each other, so the idea that they had different purposes was not easy to see. Neither type was labeled, either. To those who knew the resort, there were subtle indicators to identify the difference, but to the new visitor (me), it was totally unclear. If she had gotten to know me, even a little bit, she might have realized that I was a certified environmental manager in my career at the time, and that I am a staunch "trash picker upper" when hiking or SCUBA diving. But all she saw, and all she wanted to see, was that I just threw an empty aluminum beer can into the trash can! Obviously, I was on a mission to destroy the Earth and mankind, and the rant was on! Maybe I should have written "Leave No Trace" or "Save The Planet" on my bare chest...or maybe she should have resisted the urge to make ASSumptions, and simply pointed out how to tell the differences between the containers. People will be the people they really are, whether in their clothes or in their skin.
Our US turmoil has just ratcheted up a notch; it appears that rational discussion is out the window. Ive always felt that discussing any topic was possible if you tried to pay attention to the facts and not make up the scenario as you went along. Maybe our advanced age (as much as I hate to say it) makes this more possible or just maybe lower key, discussing differences of opinion are key to understanding everyones world. Is this too radical a concept or should everyone just sit and stew? Or, is this just the current climate of society in general? Anybody have any thoughts?