On Grooming

The whole metrosexual movement among men has really got me stumped. I like clean men, don't get me wrong--but men shouldn't be TOO clean. It's ungodly. It's unnatural. How can you trust a man that's always neat and tidy? How can he go hunt? How can you expect him to bring home the bloodied carcass of his prey? How can he fight the attackers? How can he possibly do the things a man is supposed to do if he's in the habit of obsessing about his appearance? I smell too much cologne on a man and I think 'salesman--be ready to say no.' But that's me. Maybe I'm just Old School.

Then, there are the women who also obsess about appearance, with products, and stylists, and clothing, and plastic surgery out the wazoo (am I mixing metaphors?). You cannot convince me that those women are spending an equal amount of time improving their inner selves as they are in redesigning their outer selves. Time alone doesn't allow it. Lives are busy and everyone sets their priorities.

And some might say, "Well, I have enough respect for myself to make sure I'm well groomed." I'm not talking about "well groomed." Everyone wants to be washed, and cut, and combed, and brushed, and wearing something crisp and flattering. I'm talking about that line that wanders into excess--that division that becomes self-absorbed neurosis and can even become psychosis. It's the excessive focus on the surface of things, and the neglect of all that is beneath the surface. This strikes me the reason for many of the bad decisions we as individuals, and as a society, often make. In seeing the surface alone, we agree to be easily fooled. We become like children, refusing to understand that life is complex and the true situation not always evident.

I know this all makes me sound like a bit of a slob. I'm not. I like pretty things. I like sweet-smeling things. I also like the truth. I also like real meaning.

I'm just wondering if appreciating those things is slowly going out of style. And if it is, what kind of world will we create?