Of Barbers, Heads, and the Barbered
“If two heads are better than one, three barbers are better than two.”
-- old Chinese proverb and puzzle
Dear Esemenay,
With this story of barbers, heads, heads of State, and the barbered, we send you cheers, and a quantum thanks, for the precious gift of plain truth; indeed “truth that matters”, matters!
Very few human relationships last longer than our relationships with barbers. When one or the other goes away, he is invariably replaced; when one passes away, like the King or the Pope, an able successor takes over.
Outside mom and dad, I have clear memories of Lolo Inkoy and Canuto my barber, and no one else, when I was just five; since then I always had a barber, even if there were times that I did not have a girlfriend, a spouse, a cook, or a driver; barbers are more than just hair-snippers; when I think barber, I think “good friend, advisor, news anchor, tipster, source of good news, fresh, reliable news that’s never rapplered; I think “Kuya, caring, funny and never corny; smart but polite, deep but not pedantic”; I don’t need to ask him “what’s up”, he tells me what’s up, or down – the price of gas, power, pork; he may never be a Nobel Prize winner (thank God), but to me, he is the man for all seasons; that’s my barber – Canuto when I was five, and now Jerome, at five and seventy, with not more than ten barbers between the two. Unfortunately (or maybe not), none of them delved into the stock market.
I will confess later why I went to see him last Feb. 16; yes, I did, and voila -- I feasted on such yummy updates that I felt like I was in a Christmas eve banquet: “what’s the latest on the West Philippine Sea (“it’s the WPS Kuya, not the SCS”); why the Chinese make better and better products now unlike the trash that they did before; where Pinoy fishers go for fish to avoid water cannons; what’s up on “regional security”, with Ph, Vietnam, Australia, and Japan, getting cozy; what can be done with schools; what really happened during martial law; how Zambales sand and gravel got to become artificial islands in Scarborough, and many other goodies, and a shoulder massage, all in twenty minutes; I felt like I was listening to Boy A. chatting with Karen D. or to an amusing narrative of a “Marites”. Jerome cannot match the prowess of Prof. Carlos, but easily his portfolio is more diverse, and definitely, his massage is more soothing!
The uncanny and heady feeling brings me to the point of my confession: that the presidential debates last Feb. 15, exceeded people’s expectations, and the net effect that led me to remember Jerome, and go savor his nice service package the next day, in the same manner, that I savored the wonderful treat at Okada.
Yes, the debate, its ambiance, the Miriam-like audacity of Prof. Carlos, the wholesome mental exchanges, and calisthenics, particularly by two of the four participants made me feel like I was with Jerome, freely enjoying his talents, and his smart hair-snipping, hair-splitting ways.
Yes, that’s Jerome, my zany, savvy, hair-snipping, hair-splitting savant; now, with two from the Presidentiables added, there are three, and I know who they are, and I know what to do come May; thanks to you ESEMENAY; you’re the game changer setting the bar of excellence!
Bob Calida
WAWD 2/22/2022 https://www.wealsowalkdogsblog.com/