Big Hair And Leisure Suits

Picture this: A mother enters a restaurant with her daughter who recently dyed her spiky hair a brilliant purple. As they walk past a table at which a middle-aged couple is dining, the mother overhears the woman say to her bald-headed husband, “Look at that hair! Isn’t it disgusting?” Whereupon, in a voice loud enough for the woman to hear, the girl’s mother says to her teenager, “Look at that man with no hair! Isn’t that disgusting?” How sad! Otherwise decent people tearing each other to pieces. And why? Because in someone’s mind, strict adherence to the custom of certain hair-styles or appearance takes precedence over decency in human relations. I for one have yet to be made aware of any data which shows that the color or style of a girl’s hair has anything to do with her value as a human being, or her personal integrity. And this is precisely the kind of problem Jesus has with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel episode.…