SOMETHING I love doing if I go for a drive, is to instruct my driver to drive slowly, while I look down every street, into every shop, sometimes homes that have their doors open.
I gaze at people going about their normal activities, watch expressions and quite often hear conversations and listen to reactions. It’s something I enjoy doing! Today I peered into a barber shop. It had its doors open, and those outside, could see those inside.
The boy in the barber shop was oblivious to those outside. The barber had just sprayed water on his head, and had made a puff on his forehead. The barber had obviously gone to get a mirror, to show him how he looked from the back, but the boy was happy. He was smiling, looking quite pleased with his haircut. But it was more than a smile I saw: The haircut had made him into a film star.
For a moment, the boy in the barber shop was a Shah Rukh Khan! It was in his eyes: The ordinary puff the barber had made was not just ordinary: The shapely, sudden spurt of hair that came out from the middle and startled the rest of his cropped head was that of a Hrithik Roshan!
As he smiled at the mirror, his shoulders squared back, his eyes grew bright, he straightened himself. I saw all this in those few seconds my car passed the barber shop. Could so much confidence be given by an ordinary barber? I wondered. I knew that the boy would walk out, a new stride to his walk, a changed look on his face, and a different person.
All I wished for the boy, was that he would keep that confidence not just for a few hours but for a lifetime. That the boy would realize he was unique, that no other boy was made like him, that he had been shaped and formed for a unique reason, and placed on earth to do a unique job. Do we need to go to a barber’s haircutting saloon, or a beautician, do we need to visit a spa, or a massage parlour, to feel good about ourselves?
Take a moment right now. Stop wandering thoughts and crushing worries. Look into an imaginary mirror or better still pull out your phone, turn the camera around to selfie mode and look at yourself!
Now, pull back your shoulders, set right your sagging jaw, let go that crushed look and let resolve and courage enter your eyes, then get up and walk with a measured, determined stride and face the world anew. You are made unique, not by a barber, beautician or plastic surgeon, but your Creator. Now go out and win, with that new look..!
