"Retouching" grade school photos - seriously!

When I was a wee lad in grade school, like most, I was kind of (ok, not "kind of" - I was) dorky, and so, I dreaded the day when we had SCHOOL PICTURE DAY [esp since my Mom made me wear a really ugly tie and my hair was always a major concern and you were pretty much guaranteed to have the world's largest zit either on your nose, forehead or chin...]. You get the idea - I still shudder at the memories of just how bloody traumatic it all was. And, it didn't get better in high school either - until I was able to realize that no one, except parents and granparents, actually cared about those pics. Anyway, thank god (get ready for some serious sarcasm here) that we had the ability to have our pictures "photoshopped/re-touched", just like kids today: No Boo-boos or Cowlicks? Only in School Pictures - NYTimes.com. I mean, can you friggin' imagine the possibilities? That is me above, before my parent's re-touched my picture; notice (see pic below) the slight and ever-so-subtle changes they requested to show off how they proud were of me to all their friends... 


Whew. thank god for Photoshop; we wouldn't want any child to actually look like he/she does in real life. Nice message we are sending to our kids.
And so, once again, I am left to merely shake my head and mutter: "stupid is as stupid does".


peace out
johnny boy