Hair And Homeland

This is from August 3, 2012, but it could have been other years. I often did the same thing when I returned from Can Tho with very similar results!

I got my hair cut this afternoon. It could have gone another week or so but school is starting and time becomes scarce for things like haircuts. Besides, I had a delivery to make! The same lady has cut my hair for fourteen years now and she  is Vietnamese, I would guess in her sixties. I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know her name and she just calls me, Teacher. I have written several blogs about her over the years so she's always good for insights that escape me. Here's a couple of things which stick out to me about this lady. First, the price in 1998 was three dollars. The price in 2012? Three dollars! There are not many places where you can give a 100% tip! The second thing I think is noteworthy is that the only reason I went to this place fourteen years ago was I was sitting at the lunch table with a substitute teacher who told me her husband went to this shop. If I had brought my lunch that day instead of buying it, my life would have been different!

As I did last year, I brought her a gift. Like last years token, the gift was a 4 x 6 snapshot in a frame. This year's picture is the one posted above. She was so excited. She called another lady over who was not cutting at the moment, another lady from Vietnam. She told her about my trip and the other lady was excited, too. They asked about the plane ride and chopsticks and food and my diversion into Cambodian and if anyone had offered to marry me. I answered as best as I could dealing with language issues. But English or no English, it came through that they thought it was incredible I spent time in their homeland. I wish they could understand better my viewpoint that it was an honor for me to be in the country of their birth. I take it that they are Buddhists but they expressed appreciation for my efforts. My efforts are flawed but it doesn't matter to them. For whatever reason, they left their native soil, the soil I've chosen to visit, and that matters to them. Maybe some seeds planted there will take root, maybe even in a far away barber shop. 

Applicable quote of the day:
Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave but not our hearts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org