True or not, intentional or not, both I and my girlfriend at the time, also a customer, were in total disbelief. Although, I could definitely imagine how he carelessly leaning over the young lady to better see the results of his work and inadvertently brushing against her arm could be misinterpreted by her as intentional provocation, especially if she’d previously experienced traumatizing sexual abuse. Sadly, the complaint she filed resulted in him losing his job, his license to work, his house, almost his marriage, and put him in jail for several months. Needless to say, he lost all confidence as a well-meaning human being during the ensuing ordeal. And, in hopeless retreat, he turned to earnestly reading the Bible, hoping, I think, to find both new meaning to his life and possibly protective salvation.
I didn’t see him for months. I had to get my hair cut back in Chicago or out on the road wherever I happened to find myself. At one point, out of frustration, I just let my hair grow to near ponytail length, my early 70’s self revisited. When I finally heard from him again, he was out of jail and cleared to resume “supervised” hair cutting again, this time from the basement in his new rented home. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to make an adequate living cutting hair part time in his basement, he was in the process of floundering around testing new ideas for starting his own business. He was seriously considering both a food truck and house painting. Eventually, the house painting idea began to take off and it continues today. So does his strong commitment to a faith in Christianity. And, irritatingly, so does his flirtation with proselytizing. But interestingly, these days, his attempts at proselytizing have become more an intellectual questioning of a whole host of religiously inspired issues.
A few years back he asked me if I thought DNA was the essence of identity and the soul. Not what I would normally expect from the person cutting my hair. But I was intrigued to see his interest in something beyond religious dogma. For his benefit, I ran through a bunch of stuff I knew regarding gene expression, cell differentiation and specialization, and the fact that parts of our bodies, like blood, skin, and muscles, regenerate numerous times over our lifetimes. What really had his mouth drop open and his eyes bug out was my mention of the micro-biomes that inhabit our skin and digestive tracts, cells that have completely different DNA but function as vital part of our bodies just as much as cells with our own DNA.
We’ve had numerous similar non-trivial discussions on topics ranging from small business governmental red-tape, to employer responsibility toward employees dealing with addiction, the existence and location of heaven, the gold standard, buoyancy vs. gravity, the function of government and the responsibilities of citizenship, how vaccines work, how scientists judge the date of fossils and the age of the universe, and just yesterday, a bit of string theory and the Higgs particle.
I have to say that I’ve witnessed very few similar transitions of people’s interests from hair cutting and getting rich, to the mysteries of Christianity and the fallibility of those who profess to follow its teachings, to the significance of DNA, to how one determines the difference between buoyancy and gravity, to whether Heaven exists and where it might be, and finally to the relationship between the Higgs and what we understand to be mass. Quite impressive, I’d say. And, I suspect you might agree.
One of the most troubling aspects of life in these United States today is the lack of truly interesting and genuinely edifying conversational exchanges between and amongst citizens. “Hi” and perfunctorily uttering “Have a nice day” just doesn’t cut it. Boring, to say the least. Social life with our fellows could be so much more interesting and productive if we all were to take a look at our own shallow shadows of a life and consider what we really and truly know for sure and what we don’t. The mysteries are out there, and so are the joys and satisfactions to be had investigating them. We only have to earnestly consider them, both on our own and with our fellows. We are, after all, in this life together.
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2024-03-17T13:55:12Z2024-03-17T13:55:12-04:00What Truth Resides Within?tag:refertogrey.com,2024-02-02:/613
What Truth Resides Within? What truth resides within
the snow, the new white snow
covering all the ground, clinging
clinging to brush and tree?
What truth resides beneath,
beneath the branches of
a bush, almost obscured,
blending color with the brush?
What truth resides within
the crouching quivering hare,
fur all a fluff, eyes intense,
its uneased heart
beating beating fast?
What truth resides within
the hawk above, circling,
looking down, swooping,
pulling up, grabbing perch
high out on snowy branch?
What truth resides within
a young black squirrel
bounding cross the snow,
then up a trunk to hollow warm,
packed with leaves and
seeds and nuts?
What truth resides within
the house across the way
frost upon its window panes
chimneys pumping steam,
RV out back beside some swings,
two cars inside its garage?
What truth resides within
bouquet of roses slowly wilting
ensconced in vase antique
inside my own cold
frosted panes?
What truth resides within
the news from radio,
upon TV, within the apps
inside my phone,
far too often reasoned
less than keen, more
titillate to persuade
than search for truth
and wisdom lean?
What truth resides within
this book I hold, its
words I’d never read,
quiet words suggesting
there is more, much more,
for all numb humans
to discover and digest?
Oh, what compelling truth resides
within the act of looking, really looking,
at thoughtful words I’d never read,
at not so simple goings on outside,
at all the cold white snow.
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2024-02-02T09:30:40Z2024-02-02T09:30:40-04:00Aspiration, and that Abysstag:refertogrey.com,2023-11-13:/612
Aspiration, and that Abyss From sleep aroused
I squint to look about.
That cat of mine is
already on the the prowl.
This morning’s light
through curtains parted
creates a gleam
she’s never seen.
And now, she’s up upon
the kitchen counter,
poised in contemplation deep.
Can she complete the leap
across the gap to shelf on high
and catch the gleam
that fascinates her so?
It is a problem we all do face.
Can we complete that leap?
What will it take?
What might go wrong?
What could we gain?
What are the risks?
And even if we do complete,
what will be lost behind?
“Fail safe”, is caution
wisdom of the ages
hands down to us
in almost every land.
But, with emotions high,
it’s hard to think like that.
More than once, we’ll
trust our gut, throw
caution to the winds.
How many times have we
upon our asses, on our heads
landed deep into abyss
we’ve tried and
failed to clear?
And, how have we handled that?
With grin and backed away?
With false bravado, claiming
actually we did succeed?
What truth, what lies have we
told ourselves, and others?
And why? What’s been the gain?
And what the loss, for both
ourselves and those same others?
My cat, my lovely cat, she knows.
She knows from way back when
she was but a kitten.
She knows the gap must
not exceed her talents.
She knows to fail must not
exhaust her stored reserves.
She knows deluding
self and others only
traps her inside a box of
dark frustration.
My cat, my lovely cat, she knows.
She knows the world is hugely big,
filled with fascinations plenty.
She knows, too, that truth
is her unfailing friend.
She knows that if she
measures right, she will
succeed. And, have
both wealth to savor
and to share.
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2023-11-13T12:58:29Z2023-11-13T12:58:29-04:00