Necessary life skills taught here

Last week a pastor friend of mine asked to borrow my mail shirt, as he wanted to do a demonstration on “the full armor of God” at a youth conference. I had to refuse because a) my mail is rusty and oily right now, as a consequence of the recent zinc removal, and b) I needed it myself this past Sunday.

As it turned out, he borrowed a shirt from someone else. Which meant he had the unpleasant experience of trying to take it off for the first time without knowing how. Getting out of mail the wrong way (that is, trying to take it off like a sweater) is a splendid method for inducing claustrophobia and giving yourself nights of bad dreams. Getting out of it the right way is easy and fun.

Ragnar in mail

So, for future reference, this is how you do it.

1. Having removed your belt, bend forward at the waist.

2. Grab a handful of the mail behind your back, and pull it forward.

3. Keep pulling it forward until most of it is bunched up around your shoulders and neck.

4. Now pull it all off over your head. Because the weight of the shirt is now forward of your body, the whole thing will fall to the ground by force of gravity, without any further effort on your part (unless it gets caught on something). The side of the shirt that was inside will now be outside, but since there is no inside or outside (nor any front nor back), that doesn’t matter in the least.

(Photo credit: Emily Chesley)

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