I received a call last night from a good friend inviting me to breakfast this morning. I couldn’t refuse since I hadn’t seen him in months so we set a time and place. The parking lot of the restaurant was about half full when we got there so I figured we wouldn’t have to be waiting for a table. While looking over the menu, I was noticing all the more people arriving. I mentioned to my friend how busy they seemed to be already, which therefore meant their breakfasts must be noteworthy. We ordered, drank coffee, and played catch-up while waiting for our plates.
While we were visiting I couldn’t help but over-hear some women at the next table bickering away about trivialities in their lives. I said to my friend, “They’re getting pretty wound up already this morning and I hope it’s not the beginning of a cat fight.” He laughed while adding, “Hey, have you noticed something a little different about the people here?” I scanned the crowd and suddenly noticed a pattern with nearly every male that was there. I looked at him and said, “Good heavens! Nearly all the males are wearing baseball hats.” “Yup, you got it!” he said. There were young ones, old ones, and those in between wearing baseball hats while being served in a restaurant!
You all may think me terribly persnickety when it comes to what I believe is socially acceptable and what’s not, but this is the first time I’ve seen a group of men eating with their baseball hats on inside a restaurant. I’ve decided I really don’t get out enough to see the changes that are taking place in society. The standards are certainly falling like a rock. First it was the excess facial hair and now it’s the baseball hats. What next?
I had a friend a number of years ago who had the onset of male pattern baldness early in his years and was terribly sensitive to that fact. He wore a baseball cap E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E! Teasing him a bit once about that cap being glued to his head all the time I said, “How does your wife like you wearing that cap to bed?” That question wasn’t very well received, but at least he started taking it off more often. We quietly parted ways several years later due to the both of them growing exceptionally religious as well as trying to induct me and likely everyone else into their newfound religious community.
I’m a firm believer people should be left to find their own forms of faith and leave it at that instead of trying to evangelize everyone they come into contact with on a daily basis. As I’ve said to many, “For me, outward signs of faith are superficial, but real faith grows quietly within.” I’m reminded of that on occasion whenever I meet someone who has the ability to weave in and out of the “crowd” while doing great things for others and rarely ever noticed. I was again reminded of my belief when speaking to a woman not long ago who during her long career was at many a bedsides of the dying. She simply held their hands and prayed quietly with them. While most would run from death, she freely went to them so to ensure they’d not be alone while making their journey to the other side. Her selfless concern for another’s dying, is just one of my examples of real spirituality.
