I had a strange encounter today while doing grocery shopping. I had ticked all the things off the shopping list and as I moved into the queue, I smiled and greeted a lady and little girl who was in their shopping cart. The lady looked into my cart and as I only had about ten items, she asked me why I didn't go to the express line. I explained that it was just as long so I would rather just wait in the closest one to where I completed my shopping.

The little girl in the shopping cart had been looking back at me and then whispered to her grandmother

"You can't trust her granny, she doesn't wear makeup".

. . .

At first, I thought that it was quite funny but then I started thinking about it and asked the lady how old she was. She explained that she's turning 8.

My mind was arush with questions. Why would wearing makeup denote whether you are trust-worthy or not? It's not like I was dressed in a dodgy way, I was pretty presentable (apart from the cat fur on my clothing lol) and I didn't smell bad like a hobo.

What is it that we are teaching the next generation that leads to them thinking that wearing or not wearing makeup is a test about honesty or values? The interesting thing is that the grandmother seemed to completely dismiss the notion and I think that most people probably would, but deep seated in the psyche of these little people, they are being led to believe some strange things.

My mother wore makeup when she went out. Stacks of it infact but she never taught me how to apply makeup. She never even had a discussion with me and left me to my own demise devices when it came to anything even remotely feminine. Needless to say, as a teenager I had no idea what foundation was, I had never used anything like day cream or night cream or the myriad other creams on the market. Mascara became my go-to and later it didn't even bother me if I didn't wear makeup at all because if I didn't feel like it, who the fuck should judge that?

Apparently 8 year olds judge that and in very weird ways. While they left to carry on with their day and the topic will probably never be discussed again, it leaves me with a rather hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach about what the world will look like in a decade or two. _{Luckily, I'll probably be too old (or dead) to care then} but it still makes me wonder what these children are being taught about trust.