Day Twenty Three: ...And so begins the season of gray.

For anyone who has ever caught me in a candid moment, it is known that I am a somewhat glum chap. Not a bedroom crier or anything, but just a bit glum on a fairly regular basis. Because of this, I dread winter. The gray world. The sky is gray, the ground seems gray, and it all just blends together for four or five terribly depressing months. Each year, around this time, I try to buckle down, boost up the optimism, take on a new hobby, because I know that the Gray Season is going to sucker punch me, hard. Today is the fourth gray sky in a row. It. Has. Begun.

Also, this morning, I found a gray hair in my beard.



My wife has been saying for a while that she has seen them pop up in my stubble, but I never believed her because I think she secretly hates me and only wants me for my money (the joke being, I have no money). But, alas, this morning there one was.

Now, while most men will see a gray hair, or beard-hair, and curse to the heavens, buy a corvette, and go bang out a few nineteen year olds, I shall not. No, I see my gray beard hair as something sort of exotic. I am in metamorphosis. It is exciting to me because the last time something on my body sort of changed was in adolescence (also hair related) and I was too stupid to know what the hell it really meant. Well, not this time. I am mutating. I am like an X-Men, if all dudes were X-Men. Except sort of an "Allegory of the Cave" X-Men thing I think, in that they fear it, and I look forward to it...? Maybe?

Gray hair, I believe, makes a man seem distinguished, respectable, and honest. It tells the world "I am serious, and you will trust me." It is a gift really, from my aging body. So, thank you body of mine for my little gray gift, and I anxiously await many more.

Being that this post was sort of manic in tone, may I present to you something from the Amnesty International website:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/turkey-all-children-have-rights

In the summer in recent years (or the "Not-Gray Season") we tend to get a lot of people from other countries coming over to work and visit and what have you. A good number of them Turkish. Turkey (in case you for whatever reason didn't know) isn't exactly the most stable of places on this big green rock. There is a fair amount of political upheaval, protest, and persecution. Lately, children as young as twelve have been catching the brunt of it and have been being charged as terrorists, simply because they were involved in protest demonstrations. Some of these are the friends, neighbors, and relatives of the very people that come here in the summer. People that may work with us, that we may go get a drink with, that we may hang out with, laugh with, and share with. In fact, some of these kids, could very well be the kids who will be charged as terrorists. So, please, if you have a moment and some change, swing on over to the donate page and help bring an end to this purely criminal abuse of power against the youth.

thank you.