WWJB? Eleven years later, the shirt has worn out, but the question remains

Eleven years ago, in response to the second Iraq war, my friend Brad Jersak created T-shirts with the logo pictured to the left. I bought one immediately and wore it proudly wherever I went. One time it even got me into a bit of trouble when I (stupidly) wore it while getting onto a plane. Lesson learned.

Once it began to show some wear, it became my workout shirt, my running shirt, my “under my hockey gear” shirt and finally my paint shirt this summer when I transformed the trim on our house from green to white.

Last night while transferring my clothes to a new armoire we inherited from my brother-in-law (we inherited a dog from him around this time last year, so who knows what next October will bring), I concluded it was finally time to retire the shirt for good. Too worn, too hole-y, and too covered with paint.

I have a hard time letting go of old clothes at the best of times, but this shirt is particularly difficult to part with. In fact, as I write this, I realize it’s still sitting downstairs in the garbage, and I’m more than a little tempted to pull it back out.

It seems a particularly inopportune time to throw it out, seeing as we’re back at it again in Iraq (and Syria), but perhaps this ode to an old shirt will prompt a few more people to ask the question it poses.