Brutal honesty

I had my hair cut yesterday. It had gotten pretty long and I figured that it was about time for me to get it cut. The biggest reason why I decided to get my hair cut was to shorten the time needed in the morning to shower and reduce the amount of shampoo and conditioner I use. I'm being very honest here. I normally would like to have my hair a bit longer (and was enjoying having it long) but I don't really care if it is long or short. Little did I know that this would create such a firestorm of activity. I arrived at school this morning and soon found out that the evenings activities which resulted in Ajaan Ryan having a different hairstyle was the talk of the town. My M1 students were visibly distraught and the news spread rapidly. Pretty soon they were coming up with excuses to come into the office and catch a glimpse of my new hair style. Other were more forward and stood in the doorway talking about it. Other found it necessary to peek their head around the corner and attempt to catch fleeting glances without me noticing (however it's impossible for 12-year-olds to do anything secretly). I felt a bit like a celebrity and quickly became very self-conscious. Eventually they got a bit used to it and things got back to normal. I was abruptly reminded of my new haircut later in the day as I saw several of my M3 students. I was not only reminded that I had in fact had my hair cut the previous night but also of the typical Thai trait of being very blunt when talking about physical appearances. I was asked by one of my students why I cut my hair. Before I could respond she exclaimed that I looked more handsome before. And that was that. It sparked another round of discussion and pretty soon the whole class was chiming in and everyone had an opinion. It turned out the general consensus was that I shouldn't have cut my hair. At that point I conceded defeat and made an announcement and declaring that I was going to begin growing my hair out starting now.

This entry didn't turn out exactly like I was thinking it would turn out. It's funny how some of the littlest things turn into very big things. But I guess I should take comfort in the fact that they are honest enough with me to tell me that they think I'm uglier than I was before. At least that means they care, right? That's what I keep telling myself as I focus more and more mental energy on growing out my hair. I think it's helping.

RM