It's time to go... BALD!!!

I forced myself to make the dreaded trip today. I have put it off for too long. I told myself to just do it and think no more. I decided to stop procrastinating and visit the barber. :P The lady hairdresser asked me how I would like my hair cut. I said, "Anything. Whatever you want." Despite my obvious green light for her to do whatever she wanted to my hair, she hesitated. More correctly, she did not seem to have heard me and proceeded to bombard me with incessant questions. For each question, I gave her the same answer. Anything, anything. At the end of the 10 minutes or so, she pointed to the mirror and asked me if it was okay. My hair looked cut enough and I was satisfied. Almost. I asked her if she would make the hair above my ears a bit higher. She replied that this meant I wanted to have a "slope" behind. SLOPE? I still don't get the connection between that and the hair above my ears. Too complicated for simple men like me. Anyway, we laughed a bit and formed an easy camaraderie. Like when a mute tries to speak with a deaf. She then commented that it was interesting I wanted my hair short, and shorter. She said that young people don't like their hair cut too short. Further, the "slope" was currently out of fashion so she thought I might not want it. I rolled my eyes and snorted that I knew peanuts about fashion and that I was not exactly young either. It struck me as strange then - this stereotype that middle-age lady had of "young people". Yet, it does seem to fit into the mold I myself have observed. A thought came unbidden to my mind. In Chinese, our hair is also referred to as 烦恼丝 (fan nao si). 烦恼丝 translates literally to "strands of vexation". It thus follows that the more hair you have, the more 烦恼丝 you have and hence, the more stress, problems and burdens you keep with you. It is my view that the enlightened ones are free from such worries. After all, haven't we note that those supposedly enlightened monks and nuns all don't have hair on their heads? :-) Youths are foolish. I remember I wanted to grow up quick when I was weeny. Now, I wish I was always little and ignorant of "world events". Youths of today want to keep more hair on their heads because they think it is fashionable. Sure, it is adult-ish to have lots of burdens too. Remove that hair on your head, get rid of your 烦恼丝... good luck on your path to enlightenment. =) PS.: For now, I think I will still keep my hair.