Healthy, wealthy, and wise: the magnificent beard

General Burnside’s beard

I got a laugh out of THIS article, entitled, “Beards Keep you Young, Healthy, and Handsome, Says Science.” On the positive side, the article states, “While both dead sexy and totally awesome, beards are also a boon to your overall health.” On the negative side, it’s time invest in “beard wash and beard oil, essential tools for looking and feeling your beardy best.”

So there you have it, beards keep you healthy and wealthy. Okay, maybe wealthy is a little bit of a stretch. But what about “Wise,” as in the title of this blog post? What is interesting is that many Greco-Roman philosophers argued that men should indeed grow beards. I quote Epictetus as my example:

Can anything be more useless than the hairs on a chin? Well, What then? has not nature used even these in the most suitable way possible? Has she not by these means distinguished between the male and the female? Does not the nature of each one among us cry aloud forthwith from afar, “I am a man; on this understanding approach me, on this understanding talk with me; ask for nothing further; behold the signs?” Again, in the case of women, just as nature has mingled in their voice a certain softer note, so likewise she has taken the hair from their chins. Not so, you say; on the contrary the human animal ought to have been left without distinguishing features, and each of us ought to proclaim by word of mouth, “I am a man.” Nay, but how fair and becoming and dignified the sign is! How much more fair than the cock’s comb, how much more magnificent than the lion’s mane! Wherefore, we ought to preserve the signs which God has given; we ought not to throw them away (Epictetus, trans. Oldfather, p. 111).

So you see, the key to health, wealth, and wisdom is in in the beard, which is more magnificent than the lion’s mane!

Here’s a laugh

I pass along this video hoping that you will enjoy laughing as much as I did

Just say no: squirrels belong in trees!

Today I had my first ever encounter where squirrel was on the menu. It came in the form of squirrel stew, delivered by a customer at work. The stew steamed and warmed my hands as I carried it to my car. When I asked the customer how one prepares squirrel, he said something, if I understood him correctly, about boiling it and then broiling it and then frying it. That should have been my first warning!

I got home and zealously took my first spoonful of the stew . . . I will now end this story, except for telling you that the squirrel stew is in the trash can outside by orders from my wife who now refuses to tolerate the smell in her house, EVER!

If you’re tempted to eat squirrel, wonder how it might taste, or want to make a warm squirrel stew on a wintry day, resist the urge! Squirrels belong in trees, not in soups. They’re cute to look at, not to eat. There’s a reason you’ve never seen squirrel-noodle soup in the grocery store; stick with chicken.