Mentally unbalanced or just a dreamer?
I'm new to straight shaving, Lord knows it's not easy or quick. Far, far from painless, or cheap. I must then ask, Why?... What conceivable reason could a normal human have to make it harder to do what you already do? A better shave? The "Wow" factor? Perhaps a mental imbalance? This is my reason....
When I was younger, my father told me a story. He told me growing up in Latisana, Italy, (A farming dirt town) That he and his sister (My Aunt) saved and scrimped, until they could afford to buy a radio. Upon getting this radio how excited they were, including there parents. He told me how he would spend his evenings with his family just sitting and listening to it. All in amazement, and wonderment of this device...
Now, part of me says "Wow! What a lame childhood... A radio? Seriously? Buddy I've got a cell phone with a gig of ram in it..." But there's another part of me. One I can relate directly. I'm 31. Born in 1980. Not a big deal to some, a very big deal to me. (I was born after all!) And as a child I had but one choice of electronic entertainment. An Atari... That was it... Don't like pong, go mow the lawn... Thing was I loved that machine. It was the greatest thing in my life (at the time). But... One fateful day, I saw a commercial on the television. It was for a Nintendo. My brain literally melted. Oh My God! Mother! I HAVE to have this now! Buy it for Christmas, Please? The Atari is no good, This Nintendo will make me happy forever!... It took me a few years to finally get one... And I did... Less then year later... Sega Genesis... Oh My God! Mother! THIS TIME I will be really good! (and the usual complaining started).
I look back on the way I was, and in a lot of ways the way we all are. Always searching for the latest and greatest thing to buy. But do we really appreciate what we actually have at all? I've been from Atari, to the current gaming rigs. I must admit, Wow! We really went somewhere with this haven't we? But at what cost?
I hear people complaining about doing the laundry. Really? The laundry?... Here's laundry for you, go kneel over a river with a washboard for seven hours, until your hands are soar and worn out. That's laundry. buddy... That's laundry. Pushing a button, that's nothing at all.
Whining about taking too long to toss an item into a microwave oven. Wow, 30 seconds just too long a wait for you there champ?
Are we that complacent? That lazy?... What happened to us?... Life wasn't always this easy, and we survived just fine.
So, why did I choose this long, arduous path you may ask? Part of it initially was the 'wow factor' indeed, but as I began doing it, the pre-prep, the stropping, the slow meticulous shaves something changed. Looking at my reflection in the mirror a very strange feeling seeing the image of me. I felt oddly connected to the past in an unexplainable way. Don't get me wrong, I too dream of the perfect edge, and the best shave of my life. But stopping but just for a few moments each and every day, to turn what was once a forced chore all men have to do, into a wonderful, fulfilling experience. To know that I do what men have for hundreds of years before me. To know I took the time to learn an art so long lost to time. (it may sound corny, sorry) But that's why.
How many of us really ever take the time to appreciate what we have around us? How can we for that matter if the present is all we were born into?
Life's to short to skip over the fluff and only remember the really good parts...
Hopefully this wasn't to long, or strange of a post. This is just my reason for doing this.
