Because I Like the Word "Hirsute"

The internet can be an enlightening place -- how else could I have learned so much about the World Beard and Moustache Championships?

Willi Chevalier
Singmaringen, Germany
Swabian Beard Club
Category: Partial beard, freestyle
Current world champion!

An article entitled "The World's Weirdest Beards" appeared in the Life "magazine" in our newspaper today. It was basically a collection of photos, but it inspired an google search and led me to http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

Elmar Weisser--pride of the Swabian Beard Club--shows off his tribute to the City of Berlin at the WBMC 2005.

I don't know exactly why, but I found these illustrations from the website strangely fascinating. (And I can now consider myself an expert on facial hair, one of my lifelong goals.)

Earlier today, I had been considering blogging about my personal struggles with the conformity that suburbia encourages, but had dismissed the idea as being, well, too boring.

But the WBMC makes my point, in a much more entertaining way...in other words:

Over-analyzing = Yawn
Wacky beards = Fun!

So, while acknowleging that I would probably grab my children by their arms and run the other way if I saw a dude with "freestyle" facial hair at the mall, I applaud the spunk and the confidence demonstrated by these men.

Men who have the courage to be unique! The courage to listen to that little voice inside their head that tells them to grow and groom and overstyle their facial hair, all in the name of....well...er...I'm not sure why they do it...

But, they DO do it! And by god, I have to salute them for that.