Why a beard, and why now? At least in part to see a slightly different me. An then again there are two bearded gents who were both born on the 12 of February 1809 - Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Both whom were lightning rods of change. Though the changes they were part of had little to do with their prominent beards.
My beard is unlikely to stay long - I have found the goatee quite to my liking for the last decade or so (and think I have a double in Liverpool's coach Rafael Benitez). Some folks, however, are pretty serious in things beard. The German gent below, with his bicycle beard is a contestant in the annual World Beard Championships.
When I was working with adolescents in the psych hospital right out of college I noticed that men with beards received more respect from the kids, regardless of age. I promptly grew and maintained one for several years, even as I switched to a new job at the college. Having a beard hid my youthfulness at a time when most of my colleagues were twice my age. Alas, my wife was never fond of it and so I made it go away, only recently getting permission to go the gotee route. Don't discount the value of old abe's beard, who knows what boost it gave him? (although I imagine beards were the norm of the day)
ReplyDeleteMen's facial hair is such a mystery. Why? The makers of sundry shaving products have a virtually unlimited market though - esp. for those who shave every day.
ReplyDeleteI found that after years of never shaving (other than the occasional once a year shave) that when I actually started it wasn't too bad. A habit that I picked up early on in this was to use normal soap instead of the stuff from the tube - far far cheaper. Perhaps I should start buying Gillette products to stimulate the economy!
I used to have a full beard. Now I have a goatee. Two reasons. 1. I have more grey ones and it did not look good with the full beard. The goatee looks good I think!!
ReplyDeleteReason2. ( this can be debated ) PEOPLE QUOTE VERSES FROM THE O.T, TO TELL ME THAT KEEPING A BEARD WAS NOT GOOD FOR A BELIEVER. Some people in Kerala have not invited me to speak because of my beard.Well I am just making a statement with my beard to them. that God looks at the heart and not the outside, like most people. He judges us not from what we present externally, but he looks and sees deeply inside us. There is nothing much good there, at least let us not be hypocrites. ( see this principle outlined to prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel Chapter:16.)
Maybe the whole beard issue is one of hair-splitting! One of the factors for many of us these days is that our hair on top has gone - but below the chin still seems to grow! But as they say "hair today, gone tomorrow"
ReplyDeleteWhatever our facial hair - it is amazing that our wives still love us! But then they see far more than the outside and into the heart (which God does so much more of!).