Time for a history lesson on beards.
So the beard growing contest, which is a formal extension of me growing my beard, has a depressing past that I think should be known to all. I had never grown a beard until the beginning of my sophomore year at Lawrence. At the beginning of the year I became privy to some quite upsetting and ultimately life-changing knowledge, which sent me into the deepest pits of despair (how dramatic, eh?). I decided that to express the sorrow and sadness I was feeling, I would grow my beard out to symbolize trying to distance myself from others. The purpose was to let my exterior match how I felt inside, which was terrible. At this time I also realized that I needed to turn to the house for support and strength, so I bounced the idea of a beard -growing contest off of several people to see what they thought. While they had no idea what was happening in my personal life at the time, it was very helpful to see even the handful of die-hard Phi Tau's that decided to join me in not shaving in terms of making me feel like more of a whole person again.
As fate would have it, another episode, even more painful then the first hit home at the beginning of my junior year, and even though the decision was made to grow our beards collectively in the winter, I again let my beard grow, to once again symbolize the depression I was in, for the second time. Now some of you will say that I often grow my facial hair out, and have all sorts of crazy beard concoctions, but what I would say to you is that I never leave my full beard unrased unless I am having personal problems or conflict.
This year my beard of sadness was grown to express my feeling of failure and disappointment in myself for dropping out of college. I had simply realized that Lawrence was a terrible place for me to be, surronded by the reminders of heart-break and depression, and I had to leave to try and rebuild myself. I have a plethora of friends at LU, some of which I would do anything for, and one in particular that I have grown to truly care about, but I simply cannot spend any more time there trying to pursue academic advancement.
So this brings us to the present day, and again I am growing my full beard without trimming, for the duration of the summer. But this beard is not being grown because of a broken heart or a broken spirit; in some ways, this beard is being grown for the complete antithesis of my other beards. I have been spending time with an amazing young lady. Our relationship has progressed from acquaintences to good friends to dating, but alas must be put on a hold of sorts due to an extremely large geographical seperation. The more I find out about this girl the more I realize that she is amazing and such an individual in what has seemed like a sea of similarity and conformity. This girl is what I want in a significant other right now, and thanks to luck or fate or whatever you want to call it I have no control over how our relationship might progress for 4 months. So in summation I am growing my beard to show my disappointment in the fact that when I finally allow myself to open up and take a chance on falling in love again my chances of having a truly satisfying relationship have been slapped with a sticker that reads
DO NOT OPEN 'TIL LABOR DAY
As fate would have it, another episode, even more painful then the first hit home at the beginning of my junior year, and even though the decision was made to grow our beards collectively in the winter, I again let my beard grow, to once again symbolize the depression I was in, for the second time. Now some of you will say that I often grow my facial hair out, and have all sorts of crazy beard concoctions, but what I would say to you is that I never leave my full beard unrased unless I am having personal problems or conflict.
This year my beard of sadness was grown to express my feeling of failure and disappointment in myself for dropping out of college. I had simply realized that Lawrence was a terrible place for me to be, surronded by the reminders of heart-break and depression, and I had to leave to try and rebuild myself. I have a plethora of friends at LU, some of which I would do anything for, and one in particular that I have grown to truly care about, but I simply cannot spend any more time there trying to pursue academic advancement.
So this brings us to the present day, and again I am growing my full beard without trimming, for the duration of the summer. But this beard is not being grown because of a broken heart or a broken spirit; in some ways, this beard is being grown for the complete antithesis of my other beards. I have been spending time with an amazing young lady. Our relationship has progressed from acquaintences to good friends to dating, but alas must be put on a hold of sorts due to an extremely large geographical seperation. The more I find out about this girl the more I realize that she is amazing and such an individual in what has seemed like a sea of similarity and conformity. This girl is what I want in a significant other right now, and thanks to luck or fate or whatever you want to call it I have no control over how our relationship might progress for 4 months. So in summation I am growing my beard to show my disappointment in the fact that when I finally allow myself to open up and take a chance on falling in love again my chances of having a truly satisfying relationship have been slapped with a sticker that reads
DO NOT OPEN 'TIL LABOR DAY