SURVIVAL

(Continuation of the manuscript based on 2 Tim. 3:1-2)

It got even more troubling for the great generations, shoe fashion was on the move as well, and not just in the tennis shoes that went from black and white to technicolor like the TV.

survival

image courtesy of emaze.com

Penny loafers and wingtips were being towered over and tossed aside for the new style, the platform shoes. The taller and thicker the sole the better.

And just when those tougher-n’-nails generations thought that the sissification of society couldn’t get any worse… it did. They could never in their wildest imaginations dream anything could get any worse than long hair on guys… but it did; hand held blow dryers for men. It was bad enough that men had hair long enough to be able to dry it like girls, but style it like them too? Sensory overload.

I got my first handheld blow dryer for Christmas my freshman year in high school… My dad didn’t say much. He’d already surrendered the war between generations of long and short hair. He had a friend that gave his oldest son an ultimatum, “Cut that damn long hair or get the hell out”.

When my dad’s friend told him the story it had been years since he’d seen his son and he grieved the loss of his son. Our dad didn’t think winning the battle of the hair was worth the same risk. He just told us, matter of factly, that if he ever saw it dirty or unkempt, he’d shave it all off. Not one of my two brothers or myself doubted his word or ability to back it up.

My dad looked a little confused when I unwrapped my brown handheld blow dryer from Sears. His forehead creased and eyebrows almost met in the middle. He then opened his eyes wide but kept his opinion to himself.

Another thing he kept to was the tradition of his generation – namely, not ever using a hand held blow dryer, not a day in his life, even when he still had enough hair to be able to use one.

Our dad was numb to the changes of society in his children’s generation. He’d watched the change from black conservative combs to flamboyant colored ones with Texas-sized handles that rode prominent in the bright colored pants that were too tight to suit real men in his generation’s estimation.

He’d seen the black and white high top canvas Converse tennis shoes become obsolete as the new colors and shapes of various logos began to rule the day.

As a boy, my dad pulled a cotton sack across other folk’s fields along with most of his eight other siblings. They weren’t working for extra spending money to use for themselves and a good time on the weekends. They were draggin’ that sack for survival.