These Pants Were Just Pants

"As I was lying in the tub with my new gray Levi's shrink-to-fit pants on, my natural feelings of desperation and stupidity were mixed with another emotion: Hope. My life had narrowed in this moment to one small, attainable purpose, the pursuit of perfect jeans, and I felt excited. I also felt empty. Was this what my life had become?

Marc Maron in jeans. Photo: Columbus Underground.
Didn't I have better things to do? I was a 48-year-old man in a bathtub wearing pants, thinking I would be a better person for owning a pair of highly personalized jeans. It was in that moment that it hit me: these pants were just pants. They weren't going to do anything special." (74)


Maron, Marc. "Pantsed!" for the Lives Column, New York Times Magazine May 5, 2013.


Are they, Marc? Do we invest too much in certain items of clothing, or do they deserve it?