By JJ

 

There's a guy at work. Maybe 35, great, thick dark brown hair, longish businessman's cut-- movie star handsome. A bunch of us were talking about how so many young guys shave their heads and how we couldn't really "get" it--most of them look better with hair, etc. And he told a great story. He grew up in rural Louisiana (we live in San Diego). 

When he was 15, he and some friends stole a case of beer from his uncle and got caught. To teach him a lesson, his uncle, who was a cop, pressed charges and the judge, who was a family friend imposed as his sentnece a Marine corps haircut. The judge had the bailiff--an ex Marine--take him during the lunch break to his barbershop and basically shave him bald and bring him back to the judge to be inspected. At which point the judge said Holy cow, didn't realize they'd cut it that short! Jeff said his hair was so short it was as if his head were covered by a layer of dust. As Jeff said, this was the days when no one even had short hair, let alone marine cuts.

 He said the next day at school he was ridiculed the entire day. His girlfriend cried, teachers asked what happened. He said it really worked as a punishment. Everytime he looked in the mirror he felt ashamed. Someone asked if he'd ever do that as a punishment to his son and he said quickly "Hell no". That the whole experience was way too humiliating and he really hated his uncle for years after that because it seemed like such a personal attack and the punishment didn't fit the crime. A