The Official Bobby Topaz Tumblr.

A lighter shade of Red.

For reasons my almost thirty year old self cannot rationally explain, I wanted to purchase a Nintendo 3DS. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s basically a handheld gaming system from Nintendo that is capable of 3D, without the use of glasses. If I had to pinpoint a reason as to why I purchased one, it would probably have to be the new Mario Kart 7 game. That and there are a lot of other neat things you can do with it, none of which a guy my age are supposed to love. But, that’s neither here nor there. The point of this story is just that I bought one, and I love it.

Not just any one however. The one I bought was a limited edition light pink version. To help you with your visual, here is what it looks like. The 3DS comes in four different colors: black, turquoise, flame red, and of course the pink one. The reason I chose the pink one if you must know was because when it came out on February 10th, it was actually ten dollars cheaper than all of the other ones. That and the fact that everyone else at my store had one, and they were all the same color. If I had a pink one, I would never lose it. Mine would be the only one that was pink…duh. Plus, who really gives a shit if it’s pink or not? I just wanted it to play Mario Kart. It does, and I am happy with it. But it seems that not everyone is.

Yesterday at work in between spurts of intermittent customers, I was engaged in a spirited Mario Kart time trial. On one of my least favorite tracks, Rainbow Road. That’s beside the point, I just wanted you guys to know how much I hated Rainbow Road. And who the hell invented the “blue” turtle shell? On the 150cc tracks, it’s almost impossible to get three stars! I digress. Back to the story. Anyway, as I was playing it a customer asked me a few questions about it. I told them how much I enjoyed the system, what it could do and how their young children, as well as their 30 year old long lost children may also love it. He then asked me if the one I was playing, the pink one was indeed mine. When I told them it was, this is what he said to me: “Do you mind if I asked why you chose a pink one”? My answer was simply “Why not? It’s just a color”. To which the gentleman then replied “Looks girly though. I wouldn’t want my son to play on one”.

I of course didn’t say anything back to him other than the obligatory..”to each their on I suppose”. I guess every parent has the right to raise their own child as they see fit, or have their own beliefs or whatnot. And maybe I’m just a bit weird here, but I truly didn’t think that me owning a pink 3DS would raise eyebrows in the world. I mean, I do have a daughter now. Everything she has is pink. What’s the big deal? But sadly, it didn’t stop there.

Later on in the evening another couple came into our store looking for an older, used DS Lite. Basically, same system that’s smaller and older, and not in 3D. They had a young boy with them who was going to be the recipient of said system. He looked no older than three, maybe four. When they inquired about my selection of the systems, I told them we only had one left, a white one that was slightly used. I pulled it out of the box and his mother inspected it thoroughly. (side note: not to be stereotypical or anything, but he was wearing a NASCAR shirt with holes in it and some awesomely dreadful sweatpants. Just saying)

She turned it over and almost had a fit. “What’s that”? She said to me. “Oh, that’s the stylus. You can touch the screen with it”. “I know what it is..” she shot back “I just want to know why it’s pink”! I told her that the previous owner was a little girl, and the pink stylus was all she had. That’s when she made this gem of a comment. “Well, I don’t want my son to play with anything pink. That’s gay shit”. I cringed at the comment, and immediately felt sorry for the kid. These people made me open up a brand new package of stylus pens, just to avoid junior the embarrassment of having to have a pink stylus. What a world! I hope they never find a Cosmo magazine in this kids bedroom. I fear for his safety.

Don’t people realize that it’s just a color? That kids don’t understand things like that? Even if her son said, “mother I just adore the color pink”. Who really cares? This isn’t really about the color pink in case you haven’t figured this out. Why do people give things so much power? If I wanted to wear only pink for the rest of my life, what the hell would it matter? It’s just a color? Why does society see that strictly as “girly’? What if my daughter grows up and decided she hates pink and only wants to wear Orange from now on? Or worse yet, the boyish blue! GASP! Would that make her a lesbian?? WHO THE HELL CARES!! What about all those Susan G. Komen shirts out there that say things like “Real men wear Pink”. Does that only apply during 10K runs? Other than that, real men wear something more gender neutral? What if I did  in fact by my Nintendo pink because a few dollars went to a charity? Then would it be alright? Come on people! Open your eyes here.

In no way by writing this am I thinking to myself “if just one of you out there in tumblr ville reads this and I can change your mind, then my mission is accomplished”. I know most of you that are my friends, if not all of you feel the exact same way. I am just writing it out of frustration really. Sometimes I feel like we have come so far as a society. And then other days someone says things like that that make you think to yourself…”ummmm…” It’s days like that that let me know I have some serious work to do as a new papa.

Everyone thinks they are more enlightened, or smarter and more understanding than the next person. I know that not everyone is, and I am not saying that I am. There are probably a lot of things I am close minded on, but I am still learning. I don’t fault those people for thinking the way they do. That’s probably the way they were raised. To fear and hate things they don’t understand. Sadly, a lot of people still are. Hopefully in the upcoming generations we will see less and less of this kind of thing. But, I’m not so sure. Until then I’ll be the dude trying not to get a blue turtle shell in my ass on my pink 3DS. Have a wonderful weekend.

-B-