It wasn't until well after I graduated high school that I started to understand the point of combing my hair. I had somehow gotten the idea that the purpose of combing was to push the hair on my head into different places so it looked like the hair on the heads of people I wanted to emulate.
The epiphany, of course, was that the right way to comb my hair was to understand where my hair naturally wanted to go, where the part would lie on its own, and then to organize the hair in a way that flattered its natural tendencies. Let the hair do what it is inclined to, and then make the end result as functional as possible.
Similarly, it wasn't until well after I'd moved to New York as an adult and gone to a fancy hair salon that I understood the purpose of a good hair cut. I had previously thought a haircut was about keeping hair from getting unruly, taming the length and mass, and punishing unruly strands by truncating them. A good hairstylist made me realize that he'd observe the way my hair grew on its own and then cut the hair so that its growth pattern conformed to an overall plan. I still don't go to hair salons regularly (I was raised going to a five-dollar barber, and I suspect I might already be too old to completely break the habit.) but when I do I'm always amazed at the results. I can wake up in the morning, even with my legendarily unruly hair, and I don't really have to do anything, it's vaguely in place already.
And then finally, it wasn't until just the past few months that I realized people are like hair, and organizing groups of people is like a haircut. People will do what they want, and some of them will be unruly stragglers, and trying to push them where they don't want to go will always fail in the long term. The best thing you can ever really do is to just try to shape their natural tendencies into something presentable and eventually you'll end up with the most satisfying result.
Perhaps. Theory X management does get a bad rap. Some folks want/need to be told what to do because they don't want to think for themselves. Sure, knowledge workers prefer Theory Y management, but ... hey.
Wait, it's too early to be talking about management theory ... and hey, I *really* need a haircut.
Nice story and analogy.
Is this, like, a metaphor for gays in the military or something? I am sorry, I shouldn't have asked that.
Or, is this about relationships?
Sometimes I read your blog and it feels like I am watching The frigging Matrix.
And if "shaping" doesn't work you can chop them into pieces and sweep them up with a broom!
Way to depress me... all my hair is falling off my head!!!
Shaping and sculpting is all well and good, but sometimes you just need to gel and mousse people into submission. ;)
I'm bald. So, using your analogy I am starting to think the world has abandoned me.
Jeff, perhaps it's better stated that you are an individualist who can go it alone? Of course, my head is shaved, so it all depends on your perspective. :-)
Let's hear it for unruly stragglers.
Have you read Alice Walker's short essay "Oppressed Hair Puts A Ceiling on the Brain?"
A quote: "It may surprise you that I do not intend (until the question-and-answer period perhaps) to speak of war and peace, the economy, racism or sexism, or the triumphs and tribulations of black people or of women. Or even about movies. Though the discerning ear may hear my concern for some of these things in what I am about to say, I am going to talk about an issue even closer to home. I am going to talk to you about hair. Don't give a thought to the state of yours at the moment. Don't be at all alarmed. This is not an appraisal. I simply want to share with you some of my own experiences with our friend hair, and at the most hope to entertain and amuse you. "
You can read the whole thing at: http://www.nappyhair.com/articles/alice_walker.htm
hmm...nice hair theory :):)
WOW! THAT ARTICLE WAS SO DEEP! LIKE, OCEANIC, DUDE!
Do you have any insights related to navel-lint?
No matter how lame a blog is, there are lamer readers... good analogy for five year olds, man... way to go!