There are times when running amok can feel like a very good idea. Perhaps things have been stagnant long enough that a breakout can’t be avoided. Now it doesn’t have to be a complete, five-star, roached-out meltdown like going on a road trip with the Motley Crue, but maybe it could be controlled a little, spontaneous, yes, but rather than running amok, we could have an amok.
I was ripe for an amok...
I had one recently. I had been feeling constrained a lot; I had increasing responsibilities; my public life was pretty quiet, so I was ripe for an amok. At the time my hair needed cutting and my usual hairdresser was not available, so I asked a friend who did hair if she would give me a cut. Happy to, she said. Now you have to know that this lady does weaves, braids and hair extensions, and when she looked at my head, a strange, eerie light came into her eyes. I should have been warned. I wasn’t.
oh-my-god-what-have-I-done...
I could feel her cutting, cutting away, and what I did not realize was that she was not so much cutting but shearing. When she was finished, her eyes widened as she looked at me and took on an oh-my-god-what-have-I-done look. I had a mild fright for a moment. My hair was standing straight up…all over…spikey in every direction! My friend had had an amok and, by extension, so had I. At some level we both knew what was happening, and either could have stopped it, but we didn’t. And you know, when all was said and done, I liked it! It seemed suddenly that I felt a little lighter, less constrained and a little irresponsible. Turns out that an amok once in a while can do a lot of reshaping. Maybe even touch our souls a little. As it happened, a lot of people liked the cut as well. Maybe I seemed little different also.
blow out a few mental cobwebs...
It may be that totally getting freaked out is not such a good idea, but an amok now and then could keep us a little newer and more visible, especially to ourselves. It could also blow out a few mental cobwebs.
I wonder if it’s possible to plan an amok …. ……. ….. maybe not.
More Essays About Everything is now available on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment