Recently in Jefferson Davis Parish, the vote was unanimous among the parish police jury.

According to Juror Steve Eastman, several complaints were made by the guards about this particular issue, and he initially requested a new law be passed.

The issue that now costs $50 for the first offense in Jefferson Davis and $100 for each offense after is one that plagues us nationwide. Some consider it to be a lasting fad, others a mark of delinquency.

This now expensive and illegal style is the all too common trend of sagging pants.

Indeed many are sick and tired of seeing peoples’ underwear revealed in public places like schools, grocery stores and restaurants.

Not to mention the tendency for even the underwear to slide down resulting in a public display of other downside cleavages.

However, does casting a new law to prevent unpleasant views infringe on the right of the citizens to express themselves freely?

School systems have been establishing dress codes for centuries, – where a professional appearance is necessary – but what about communities?

Could this new law be one step closer to an attempt to establish a so-called utopian society described in many popular novels, such as Lois Lowry’s The Giver, where people are unable to express themselves at all?

On the other hand, there is no such thing as a utopian society. Innocent children are already exposed to enough as it is.

Along with profanity on daytime TV and the sexual messages in commercial advertising, why add undergarments and butt cracks to the list?

Indecent exposure is already a crime, and rightly so. Why should freedom of expression involve wearing your pants on your knees instead of your hips?

Sagging pants have become a major issue in society, and many people other than court guards are repulsed by it.

Yes, a statement is made to the public about the individual who chooses to dress this way.

However, too many people, this statement is not a positive one.

The statement made is more likely to scream “I’m going to prison” rather than “I am going to land a job and contribute to society.”

There are countless ways that individuals are able to express themselves.

Showing the world what color underwear they are wearing should not be one of them.

It may seem cool to peers, but it is frowned upon by many in the general public.

Self-expression is thought to be a positive thing, but only in the right way. The world should be shown what is on the inside- not to be taken the wrong way.

People shouldn’t show off underwear, but talents and values that truly make them who they are.

These are the good qualities that are sought out by women looking for their soul mates, employers looking for their next hire and good citizens look for in their communities.

Perhaps by changing this one aspect of how individuals choose to express themselves, these individuals can adopt a new way to express who they are for the betterment of society and themselves.

Religion can be spoken about freely, yet we tread softly when publically mentioning it.

But, the hardest idea to grasp is that having the right to spread religious awareness is certainly not the same as pushing beliefs on others.

While people reserve the right to practice religious freedom and to speak without restraint about any faith they choose, forcing others to listen isn’t freedom of speech; it’s harassment.

There are over 127 major religions and seven billion people on earth with seven billion different views of God. Some love Him, some fear Him, some question His existence and some are still searching for Him.

Some will decide that God plays no role in the trials and tribulations of life, while others will find faith the moment they see their newborn child take the first breath of being.

Whether we discover where we spiritually belong in a pew on Sunday morning or on a lonely drive with no destination, the journey to finding or forgetting God is what determines our views. We can’t be told what and who to believe in, or to even believe in anything at all.

What we learn, who we meet and the challenges we face are what we remember when we stand before Him, not the church members that knock on our front doors, or the people that stand in the quad condemning us all to hell.

And if the church goer at your front door changes your perspective, let them. Be baptized in one church, change your mind, and be baptized in another. Let what you learned in biology class make you question evolution and the powers above.

Learning from life experiences and questioning God’s ways isn’t sin; it’s human. It’s human to change emotionally, mentally, and spiritually when physical surroundings change. It’s human to simply be curious and indecisive.

Faith only exists because there are people that believe strongly enough in it to make it a reality and a way of life. Without doubters and differences, the strength of religion would never have anything to be measured against.

Because of that, religion without true belief is weak.

Never practice out of habit, don’t follow just because your parents or friends do, and don’t ever think one religion is superior to another. In a time that seems to have the explanation for everything in a test tube or on a database, people believing in any God at all is a miracle in itself.