Maybe because I was much more in the public eye this week--emceeing a Trivia Night fundraiser--I heard abundant unsolicited suggestions about the future direction of my facial hair. More specifically, a great number of people told me, in so many words, that it was just time to shave it all off.
Most people started this conversation innocently enough, "So, what's up with the beard?" or, "What's going on with that thing?" That's what I have noticed over the weeks since I have just let all razors fall by the wayside: people feel free to ask me personal facial questions, and most often refer to the beard as "that thing" when they do so. Most men are more polite about it, telling me they would do it if their wives let them, or that they too engaged in such bearded exploits during the glory days of their youth; their way of empathizing with me before inquiring, "That must drive you so crazy...you want to shave it, huh?"
The ladies have no such pretenses. At the Trivia Night, one lady asked me when I was planning to give up on "that thing" and just shave it. Another told me that she never would have allowed it if she was my wife (which, of course is one of the many reasons she is NOT!) Finally, a third told me, "Look, you are an attractive guy and that beard well, let's just say...it's time."
What people don't understand is how much their resistance to my quest for beard glory strengthens my desire to keep it going. It may annoy my neck and chin (sometimes) but if it annoys them all the time, that's even better. It's my face, feel free to look away. Plus, why not engage in a completely frivolous pursuit just because I can? That is what frustrates them the most: that I would be doing this just because I want to. They imagine there must be some ulterior motive when, really, there is not. Beard on!
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