Respect the Dog Tags

The other day I found myself in a mall looking for a birthday gift and a necklace to dangle around my neck. I wasn't looking for anything expensive, as many of the sales associates in various stores kept bringing me to when asked to see men's necklaces. I just wanted a little trinket, bauble or charm, something kitchy to hang around me. Time and time again, store after store, if I was looking for a trinket on a budget, all I could find were dog tags.

Black dog tags, silver dog tags, sparkled dog tags, and dog tags with emblems on them. I've always been fond of dog tags ever since I saw Matt Dillon strike a match against his in the movie The Outsiders, but was always hesitant to wear one because of what they stood for: identification purposes of U.S. military killed or injured in combat. I never felt right thinking I'd wear one around my neck with some Tupac lyrics engraved on them, or maybe the astrological symbol for Taurus. Some things should remain sacred, or better yet-- earned. And not earned by slapping down twenty bucks at Things Remembered. What's next, Purple Heart Medal of Valor wallet-chains?

I stood there in the mall, at an unspecified store, debating whether I could do this or not. A sales associate stood next to me, behind me, and then next to me again pretending to dust while making sure I wasn't stealing anything. After a good fifteen minutes I turned to her and said, "I can't do it." Do what, she asked. I explained to her why I couldn't wear dog tags(aside from the poster right behind them of four young, skinny-pantsed teens wearing them and looking like D-bags) and she stood there for a beat giving me a puzzled look. "Oh," she finally emitted. "People who are not in the military wear them all the time."

Yeah, thanks genius. I kept thinking what if I did wear them and one unsuspecting day, crossed paths with an actual veteran. Say, a white-haired World War II veteran who catches a glimpse of this piece of silver hanging around my neck that he witnessed his brothers-in-arms wearing while dying. He might look at me and ask, "What branch of service were you in?" Naturally, my response would be something like, "Oh, I was never in the military, I got these at Abercrombie and Fitch. Check out the Nikki Minaj lyrics!"

Respect the dog tags, people. The right to wear them comes from years of service in the military. Or worse. Just because you can doesn't always mean you should.