There is much to be said about unexpected conversations – whether unexpected in the topic or in who you are conversing with. I find that these conversations – for me, anyway – feel more candid (well, duh) and therefor special: trusting your thoughts and beliefs in a stranger is sometimes a difficult thing to do, but completely gratifying. I digress…
I have been getting my hair cut in for the last year and a half I’ve spent in Bloomington by the same man. He owns a hole-in-the-wall barber shop on E. 3rd St., and has a consistent clientèle (myself among them) who come every so often for a cheap haircut ($8!). Amazing conversation, as it turns out, is part of the package deal. We have worked my (frequent) haircuts down to a system (my hair just won’t stop growing, Gd willing it continues). How the haircut usually goes down is this: I walk in, we smile, I go to sit in his chair and tell him, every time, “Number two on the sides, number six on top.” It’s consistent, we both know what to expect. The he asks me, without fail, “What’s going on in the Jewish world.”
Allow me to provide some detail: the first time I met my barber I understood him to be a good ol’ boy. A true Hoosier at heart. He’s a big man with a bigger laugh who wears lots of denim. This is how I describe him to friends, anyway. He is not necessarily the most well versed, but he reads the paper, has a joke for everything, and is great at asking questions. The first time I got ‘cut’ at the Golden Shear, my kipa identified me as an MOT to this beloved goy instantaneously, and thus I became his encyclopedia to all things Jewish – at least thats how I view our relationship.
The point of this post, I suppose, is my realization of the virtue of a good barber – or a good conversationalist at all. We are culturally disposed to believe that the babershop is a communal place – stemming back to the concept of “the barbershop quartet” perhaps made famous in the Music Man (goodnight ladies). And so the conversations ensue. Today we discussed Israel, Hamas, why terrorism occurs, Kashrut, and the benefit of his position as a campus barber: cutting the hair of students and Professors alike. Clearly, I look forward to each visit.
Moral of the story: discussion is good, it should happen all of the time, with a friend, family member, stranger, or, if you’re lucky, your barber. My generation (I know you’re reading this, I just topped 1,500 blog views) is too happy sitting in front of our computers (here I am) and cell phones. Gone is the day of the coffee shop and barbershop discussion: now these things are routine; quick; concise; not personal. A quick charge to anyone reading this: find your neighborhood barber. They are all nice people. Talk to them, or anyone, really, about whats on your mind, whats happening in the world, anything! It’s rewarding, I promise. You’ll get a piece of mind, and maybe even a haircut to boot.
