Pride in Work

I recently saw a picture on the Sartorialist that really moved me. It was a photograph taken of a driver in San Francisco- he was an older gentleman and was all dressed up in a suit and tie and shined shoes. The post that accompanied the picture described how the photographer felt about the man’s timeless style and how it was not so much a fashion picture, but rather, a photograph of a man who took pride in his work, and cared enough to present himself well. For some strange reason, it moved me. It reminded me of a time that I would never know, when men and women took pride in the work they did, wore hats and gloves, and dressed well everyday they were in the public’s eye. It was polite, refined and elegant. Is it ever possible to return to those days? Or is today’s popular anti-intellectualism, distorted view of freedom and torrid sense of entitlement too rampant to ever be pushed back?