The Tyranny of Convenience

“We need to consciously embrace the inconvenient — not always, but more of the time. Nowadays individuality has come to reside in making at least some inconvenient choices. You need not churn your own butter or hunt your own meat, but if you want to be someone, you cannot allow convenience to be the value that transcends all others. Struggle is not always a problem. Sometimes struggle is a solution. It can be the solution to the question of who you are.”

~ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-convenience.html

 

 

 

My Barber’s Story

While receiving a haircut from my favorite barber, I asked about his views on Russai and Syria. The story evolved into him sharing about his time in the Russian military.

In the late 80s, he was deployed to Afghanistan when he was 18. On his second day, 240 of his platoon were shot while at their base.

He continued to cut my hair. I looked in dismay. I will luckily and hopefully see death in this way. But, I could not imagine seeing this at the ripe age of 18.

I had known and enjoyed the company of my barber for 3 years and had no idea. Each person has their story.