Ed, my neighbour next door, says, "You need to snap out of it, Ray. If you don't you'll be just another one of the multitude harping on about the way it used to be." He was responding to my lament that most of the barbers and barber shops are gone today. Ed insists that I need to live in the present and forget about the past. Ed informs me barbers aren't almost extinct they are just changed into hairdressers, who are either male or female. Yet I still feel out of place getting my buzz cut by a hairdresser - it seems like a waste of their talent and training.
To a large degree I think Ed is right about living in the present rather than the past. Yet, there is something essential to both the present and the past. It is called 'doing what you do wholeheartedly.' When it comes to a haircut not only does the haircut need to be to your satisfaction, but so must the attitude of the person cutting your hair. It is obvious if the person cutting your hair has their whole heart into their work. Talent as a barber/hairdresser is both about how your hair looks when they are through and if they connected with you as a valued person under their scissors.
I asked Ed if he ever heard of anyone having an ear cut off while getting a haircut. He sighed and said, "Only in the old days when the straight edge razor got out of control in the barber's hand. But the cut off ear was covered up with a hot towel and the guy got to take it home with him." Of course I thanked Ed for contributing nothing towards our serious discussion.
Ed claims that if people like their jobs they will be good at them. I agree that if you like your work it will be mainly evident, but can we all have jobs that we love to do? Some seem to work wholeheartedly at any job. They are not grumbling or worrying about getting a better job, but set on doing the work before them with all their talent, ability and strength. I say as an old "has been" that it once was a disgrace to be lazy and a shame to do a poor job, even on work you hated. I absolutely hated cleaning out the hen house, but a poor job would have meant doing it twice or until it was done right.
"Do it right the first time," means being wholeheartedly committed to the task before you. The Bible speaks of it this way: "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves the same way you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him."
Doing a wholehearted job begins and ends with each one of us.
