The Lesson of Lost Hair

Essential wisdom never changes. Let me tell you a small tale. That is, let me paraphrase a simple story from more than 2,000 years ago. This is from the ancient Greek tradition. I found it among a collection of folk tales, and rewrote it:

An aging warrior was distressed over the accelerated loss . . . not of his battle skills, but of his HAIR. Ultimately, he found himself almost totally bald. His response: to acquire a wig. This served its purpose to a degree. But one day, on a hunting trip with some of his most revered friends, a violent wind gust spirited away his fraudulent coverlet. Laughter could not be stifled all round. In fact, the old soldier himself had to chuckle. “I must confess,” he said, “that if my natural hair refused to linger, why should I expect an estranged surrogate to be long for this world?”

Why am I blogging this? Not for the story per se, but for its exemplification of humility. Wouldn’t we all do well to confess our foibles, laugh at ourselves and get on with our purposes in life, unencumbered by vanity?