Beards & Drought

One of the odd current trends for men is the 3-day beard. I see it everywhere—movie and television stars, sports figures (especially PGA golfers), almost anyone in the news, men I see in stores and on the street. Quite a few take it beyond three days to a full-blown facial bush, but most just stay with that "Did he shave this morning?" look. I call it an odd trend because I don’t understand if women do or don’t like it. Are women really attracted to men with that grubby look? Which came first, the beard or the attraction? When I was a young man, sometimes I wouldn’t shave for two or three days, not for some sort of fashion statement or to woo the girls, but because I was too lazy to bother. I remember how grubby I felt and how I’d then overcome my laziness and shave. I also remember girlfriends who complained about whisker burn after an evening of smooching. So, why this current trend? Do women no longer get a whisker burn or do they no longer engage in smooching? And how do these men manage to keep it to a 3-day beard? Do they shave and let it grow for three days or do they have an electric shaver set for a 3-day length? ‘Tis a mystery.

Right now we’re getting rain coming down almost sideways, and a lot of it. It’s most unusual for us to get rain like this, especially when it comes out of the northeast. But here in the Southwest, any rain is good rain. We need to cut into the drought conditions in California, Texas, and Oklahoma. From what I’ve read, we’re heading for an even more extensive drought for years to come. I wonder how long it will be before we can attain that science-fictiony idea of climate control either through a control of the jet streams or by building domes over our cities. I’m guessing that might happen in another hundred years. That is, if we can avoid killing us all in the next hundred years. With Isis and al-Qaeda and Al Shabaab and too many other terrorist groups to name all trying to kill as many infidels as they can, humanity may not last another century. I hope we can put an end to drought and famine and needless killing someday. Before it’s too late.