My Bald Experiment

Readers familiar with this blog may note a difference – not a big one, but a subtle one, with the picture on the right. This is the author’s picture, and whereas before it had a hat on, now it is bare-headed and completely bald. This is not by accident.

You see, I decided to keep my head completely shaved throughout the month of June, of which today is the mid-point. Why did I do it, you may ask? Basically because I wanted to. I’m not balding, although I have had a sizable round bald spot on the right rear side of my head since birth, and a smaller one on top near the front for years. I just wanted to see what being bald was like and if the look was for me. I’ve shaved my head before and grown my hair back, and also kept my hair extremely short, so this was not as drastic a move as it might otherwise have been. I’ve enjoyed having less hair when I’ve had those styles, and now I finally gathered the courage to go continuously bald for a while. That way, there’s enough time for me (as well as others) to get used to it and see if I (and they) like it on a more permanent basis.

Of course, the Texas heat made the decision easier. This June has happened to be one of the hottest on record, with temperatures over 100 degrees on more than one occasion. Having a shaved head does keep you cooler, I’ve found – but not enough to force you to go grab a blanket while everyone around you is sweating.

The bald life is certainly a different one. Having no hair on your head takes some getting used to, but it’s also a very nice, light, free feel at times. It takes some time for the comparatively pale scalp to acquire a tan to match the rest of your face, as well as for the skin of your head to get used to regular shaving with a razor. A funny side effect of shaving your head is that when there’s some stubble, it makes it dramatically more difficult than one may think to put on or take off a shirt, since the cloth tends to stick on the way over your head.

There’s obviously less upkeep, even for a guy. There’s no shampoo needed, no comb or brush, no gel or other products. But there’s still some upkeep in the form of having to shave every other day or so – but I already shave my face, so that fits in the normal routine.* Other than using a moisturizer to keep your scalp from drying out and making sure to use sunscreen if you go out in direct sunlight for extended periods (a bald head can burn easily), there isn’t much more to it. And there certainly are no “bad hair days” – it is what it is.

Reactions vary, as could be expected. Some family members don’t like it, but they get used to it. I’ve been surprised that I’ve gotten some positive reaction from some friends and family. In public, the reaction is mostly muted, though some people stare, look twice, or even smile and say hello (it’s always interesting to see what strangers’ reactions are). However, no strangers have yet come up to me requesting to rub my smooth, shiny dome.

Fifteen days in, I’ve gotten pretty used to the whole bald experience. At times I even forget that I’m bald. I’ll keep shaving for another fifteen days to fulfill the month’s experiment. Then after that – who knows? I may keep it shaved, or I may decide to grow hair to some extent.** I know one thing: I will probably not worry much about my hair or a bad haircut in the future. After all, I’ve experienced every hair length from none to “normal”, and still survived.***

In the end, no matter what final decision I make, perhaps that’s the lesson to be learned from an experiment like this. Doing something as different as shaving your head takes a bit of courage and out-of-the-box thinking. It’s risky too, since it may backfire and fail or maybe become a brilliant new look. But it’s fun either way, and stepping out and doing something unorthodox can help boost confidence. At the very least I’ll be able to say I tried it and boldly (or baldly) went where I had never gone before.

*Author’s Note: Many believe that some bald guys look better with facial hair (perhaps to offset the lack of hair in higher regions). However, I have tried growing a beard, and it was not one of my more successful endeavors.

**Author’s Note: As always, readers are welcomed and encouraged to leave any comments and opinions they may have. In this particular case, a gauge of public opinion would be a helpful tool in making my final decision. For instance, it would be most important to know that, no matter what I may think, the public believes that I look positively hideous bald – or perhaps the opposite. And I assure you that I wouldn’t be offended by any negative opinions. I welcome all viewpoints, and besides – anyone who shaves his head and goes in public with it (or blogs about it) had better be prepared for whatever he gets.

***Author’s Note: That said, I have not experienced every hairstyle known to man. For instance, I have never sported either a mohawk or a mullet.

2 Chronicles

I am reading through the Bible in one year, as I have done several times before, and I have just completed the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles. This is a book that would go under the “historical” classification of biblical books, and for good reason – it “chronicles” (as the name indicates) the history of the Kingdom of Judah from the early reign of King Solomon until its fall at the time of the Babylonian captivity.

Also as its name implies, 2 Chronicles is the second of two books with the name “Chronicles”. The first book traces the history of Israel under King David until the early part of Solomon’s reign. Both books of Chronicles are similar to the books of 1 and 2 Kings in that they tell the story of a nation and its leaders. But they differ in that the books of the Kings describe the histories of both Judah and Israel (the southern and northern factions, respectively, of a once-united nation which was divided after Solomon’s reign), while the books of Chronicles choose to focus mostly on Judah.

There is much that can be said about the subjects I have just now briefly alluded to – too much, in fact, for a single blog entry or even a series of them. But I want to take some time to explain why I enjoyed the book of 2 Chronicles and found it unique among some of its similar historical peers.

As many times as I have read 2 Chronicles before, this time I found myself seeing it with a fresh perspective, almost as if I’d never read it before. What struck me most was that this book, often more so than the other books that tell of Israel’s history, pays attention to the spiritual details behind the historical realities of those times. The books of Chronicles and Kings both share in the description of each king as “doing what was right in the sight of the Lord” or “doing evil in the sight of the Lord”. But 2 Chronicles goes deeper than Kings in describing just how the leaders – as well as the people they led – related to their God. Let me tell you about some examples of this.

After the united Israelite kingdom was split between Israel and Judah, King Rehoboam of Judah wanted to go to war with the other kingdom. However, one of God’s prophets told Rehoboam that he should hold back from attacking his brethren, because the division had come from the hand of God. Rehoboam obeyed and relented from his intent (2 Chron. 11:2-4). Yet, of this same King Rehoboam we later read, “When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself…he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him” (2 Chron. 12:1). The Lord sent a foreign army against Rehoboam, along with a warning from His prophets, and once again Rehoboam and the people humbled themselves and returned to God. Still, the final analysis given in 2 Chronicles 12:14, Rehoboam is described as doing “evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.”

A later king, Asa, was told by a prophet, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chron. 15:2). These words spurred Asa, who was a righteous king, to lead Judah in seeking the Lord even more, and putting away false gods from the land. Still, as with Rehoboam, Asa did not follow God as fully later in life, for we read in 2 Chronicles 16:12, “Asa became diseased in his feet…yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.”

Uzziah was another example of a king of Judah who relied on himself and not the Lord as he became stronger. 2 Chronicles 26:16 tells us, “But when (Uzziah) was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” This activity was forbidden to all but the Levitical priests, but Uzziah’s sense of self-importance led him to think that he had a right to a realm that God had not granted him. God punished Uzziah by striking him with leprosy for the rest of his life.

Some kings never made an attempt to follow God. Such was King Ahaz, who followed all of the false gods of the nations around Judah as well as their religious customs, such as sacrificing his children in a fire to a false god. For his unfaithfulness, God sent enemies to defeat Ahaz, but unlike other kings, Ahaz failed to receive God’s message of warning. 2 Chronicles 28:22 says, “Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord.” In fact, the following verses describe how Ahaz began to serve the gods of the nations that defeated him in battle, thinking that these idols were what had given them success.

Another wicked king was Manasseh. Not only did Manasseh serve false gods, but he also set up altars and images for them right in the middle of God’s holy temple! Manasseh also served as a bad example for the people he ruled; according to 2 Chronicles 33:9, “So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.” But this story has a happier ending than those of other ungodly kings. God caused Manasseh to be taken captive to Babylon, and it was there that the king humbled himself, repented of his wickedness, and returned to God.

There were also examples of good kings. Of King Hezekiah we read, “He did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered” (2 Chron. 31:20-21). Of Josiah it is said, “Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 34:33).

You will find many of these types of examples as you read through all 36 chapters of 2 Chronicles. To me, the book conveys a profoundly personal message that God has for His people. He wants us to be sensitive to Him, to always put Him first, and to seek Him with all of our heart.

Just as in the life of the nation of Judah and in the lives of the men who led it, events in our lives are never disconnected from our spiritual condition – from where our heart is before God. Are we following Him with our whole heart and seeking to do what He tells us? When the Lord rebukes us (for all of us go astray), do we listen to His warning, or do we choose to reject His word and press on to our own detriment? When times get tough, do we turn to other things besides our God for help? Or do we call out to Him for His mercy and grace? On the other hand, when we succeed and are strong, do we attribute the good times to our own credit, or do we give God the glory, remaining humble before Him?

As we ponder the lessons that God teaches us through 2 Chronicles, let us remember one of my favorite verses in all of that book: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9).

Re-Entering The Blogosphere

All I can say is, it’s time. It’s time to finally get back to writing. There may be some who used to read my blog entries*, and if so, perhaps they wondered where I went when I quietly slipped out of the blogosphere over one year ago now.

It may be an overused excuse, but in this case it’s true (and I hope it will be understood): I’ve been busy. To be specific, I have been hard at work pursuing a degree in professional accounting at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. I’ve enrolled in heavy course-loads year round (even summer), and anyone who has done full-time college work knows how busy such work can make you. On my welcome breaks from school, I’ve thought about starting to blog again, but I’ve never put serious effort into the undertaking until now. I still have a year of school left to go (and after that, Lord willing, an entry into the even busier workforce), so more busy times await me. However, the difference now is, that I shall attempt to blog when I can in between the homework and lectures.

But there is more to it than being busy. I have found that it is a fact that business school can sap your creativity if you’re not careful. You see, business school (to say nothing of accounting training) offers the student little in the way of creative or artistic studies. There is much, however, in the way of numbers, figures, ratios, percentages, mathematical problems, a little algebra here and there (but thankfully no calculus), Excel spreadsheets, and financial statements. In the business world, we use all of these things to figure out what the statistical, financial, and business reality of the world really is, and to determine, based on that, the most profitable way forward. There’s no poetry, no prose, no daydreaming, and no flights of fancy. Even the “out-of-the-box” thinking that is often encouraged in business continues to be strictly in a business sense, in the final analysis. All this to say, that if you were given to creative endeavors now and then (as I was) upon entering business school, then an extended stay in that black-and-white world of facts and figures can squeeze your creative juices dry if you let it.

Then there’s the little problem that, of all the characters that people the business world, accountants are probably the least literary.** I personally do not have this problem, since I have long nurtured a love for reading and writing. But this trait seems to be rare among accountants, who breathe daily the dusty atmosphere of numbers. Even the writing that we are called upon to do is often already written for us, as in the case of most audit opinions, which are extremely formulaic (with only a slight change here and there, if needed, to a set template). The footnotes of financial statements should force accountants to call upon whatever literary prowess the do possess, since it is there that the inner workings behind the numbers of a particular set of financial statements are explained so that the reader may understand. I say “should”, because a cursory reading of the average set of financial statements proves that this purpose has usually not been well-served except with regard to the most business-savvy among us.

If that were not proof enough of the literary weakness found in the accounting world, I once saw a flyer handed out by my university’s Accounting Association (which I would have expected to know better); on its title page, the word “Accounting” was spelled “Accaounting”.


But I assume you didn’t come here to read about the accounting world and all of its consolidations, methods, rules, and regulations, though I may have something to say about these mostly boring subjects in later entries. What did you, and (hopefully) what will you come here to read from time to time? I hope to provide anew some of the things I used to provide in this space – some humor, some serious and thought-provoking subjects, a few aimless ramblings interspersed among the other more coherent offerings. But I want to strive for a lot more. I want this blog to be a lively discussion (which, hopefully, with your input, does not have to be one-sided) about all the countless things that make up our world and define what it means to be alive and human. It may take different forms – non-fiction most of the time, but perhaps also fiction or even poetry.

I hope that time and business school have not dented in any way my ability or desire to write. I doubt that they have, and I am sure that with a little practice and creative thought I will regain my equilibrium. The bottom line is, there is only one way to find out, and that is to get writing again. I trust it will be a fun and productive journey. Won’t you join me?

*Author’s Note: Such people came under the heading “Last of a Dying Breed” back when I was actively blogging. Since then, I am sure they have gone the way of the Dodo Bird.

**Author’s Note: I was about to say that the accountants were the least creative. But have you seen a Goldman Sachs income statement lately?

In Memoriam

Stop. Whatever it is you’re doing. Maybe you’re at a get-together, or barbecuing, or shopping at a blockbuster holiday sale, or just sitting back, watching a ballgame, and enjoying the tail end of a three-day weekend. Whatever it is, stop for a moment. Stop and reflect on the fact that, whatever it is you’re doing, it came to you at a price paid by others. And that’s not just something we say because someone designated today as Memorial Day. It is a very real statement of fact.

Today we say “thank you” to those brave people who cannot hear us say it because they went to war “over there” and never came back. We remember the nameless, faceless figures who fill the pages of our history books, people our battle paintings, and are portrayed in our war movies. They may be only a concept to us, but each was a real person, with feelings and dreams and families and, in most cases, most of their lives ahead of them. But they chose to risk all of that for their country. Someone has wisely pointed out that America, for all of its great military power and reach, has neither asked nor gotten anything in return for its sorrow except enough ground to bury her dead. We are now, whether we realize it or not, reaping the fruit of the labors of those long dead, who neither knew us nor had us in mind when they died; they were thinking only of those back home, whom they would never see again – a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a spouse, a sweetheart, a best friend. We get to live the comparatively carefree lives they would have liked to have lived, in part because of their sacrifice.

Our generation is no stranger to armed conflict, and neither was our father’s, or our grandfather’s, or our great-grandfather’s. Perhaps you know someone who has gone off to war, and perhaps you know of one who did not come back. I myself have an ancestor, my great-grandmother’s brother, son of Slovak immigrants, who went back to the old continent to fight for the Allied cause in World War I. He was killed in a train accident just as he was coming back from the front when the war was over and won – a particularly tragic way to die in a theater filled with nothing but tragedy.

But there were other scenes no less tragic. Think of the soldier who falls on a live grenade to save his buddies. Think of the man who died charging up that hill which no one ever noted or long remembered, or ever knew why it was worth charging up. Think of the countless numbers who died swimming ashore at Normandy and never got to liberate France or the rest of tyranny-enslaved Europe. Think of those hundreds of thousands who died at the hands of their own countrymen in the Civil War. Think of those surprised by death at Pearl Harbor, or taken off-guard by a harmless-looking suicide bomber in Iraq or an invisible guerrilla in Vietnam.

We can shudder as we read numbers. Over half a million died in the Civil War. Almost that many died in World War II. America was in World War I for only a year and a half, but over 100,000 died there. And there are thousands and thousands more. But behind all of those numbers – each digit and each comma – there is a face, a real person who once lived and breathed like we all do today. We have each and every one of those individuals to thank, and as Abraham Lincoln said, we cannot ever repay those who gave the last full measure of devotion.

They did not die just for watermelons and hot dogs and volleyball and baseball and furniture sales and fireworks. They died for freedom. They stopped living so that we could continue to live by the ideal that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Without their sacrifice we might be in danger today of being thrown in prison for disagreeing with the government, or put on trial for something we wore, or killed for being Jewish or for worshipping God. We might be speaking another language or be occupied by a foreign power, were it not for the struggles of many on our behalf. It is not only we who give thanks today, but hopefully all the millions in the other countries for which American blood was and is shed.

You can go on now. Eat your watermelon – it won’t be cold much longer. Get back to your conversation or your friendly game. Un-mute your TV or continue with your bargain-hunting. I just wanted to make sure we all remembered what this day was really all about. On the face of it, all these things are free – but they’re really not. Somebody else paid for them. Freedom isn’t free. If we ever stop stopping now and then to remember that, I suppose we won’t be free anymore. Oh, and one more thing – if you’re reading this and you did come back from “over there” – thank you. Thank you for your service to our great nation.