You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy.™
Growing a beard for a cause.
S.F.Giant relief pitcher Brian Wilson grew a nasty tiki hut of a beard and stained it with black shoe polish. Why, as a sign of crazy. As a visual, visceral rallying cry that said we will win the World Series.
Hockey players grow beards to promote team unity all the time. It’s a symbol of determination and solidarity.
Female folk-rocker, KD Lang grows facial hair to give her that rough, butch feel she’s striving for. It’s a sign that says, “hey dude, hands off.”
But a Washington teacher is the absolute, hands down winner of the “I’m not shaving till something happens” symbolism contest.
This story begins on the craziest day I can remember. Sept 11th 2001.
We all know where we were. We all remember crying and feeling helpless and angry and scared.
Each of us handled it differently. Some of us hugged our kids. Some of cracked a bottle of Jack and threw away the top. Some of us ate Cheese Doodles until our hands and feet and face were orange. Hey it could happen!
Gary Weddle dealt with 911 uniquely. The 50 year old grew a beard, swearing not to shave it till Osama Bin Laden was captured or killed.
10 years of looking like a Hasidic Jew. 10 Years of looking like Abe Lincoln on steroids. 10 years of looking like the Middle Eastern Terrorist you are seeking.
Yikes!
Someone get the boy a scissors. Sunday May 1st, as NBC news was breaking into Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice with the news, Weddle was grabbing for the shaving cream.
As newscasters were pontificating about the news of O’s Death, Weddle was grabbing for the straight razor.
According to published reports, Weddle cried Sunday night when he heard the al Qaeda figurehead had been killed in Pakistan and then “couldn’t get it [the beard] off fast enough.”
A middle school science teacher, Weddle said he had wanted to cut the beard off for years — as had his wife Donita — but he had made a vow not to shave until bin Laden was captured or killed.
We all wanted justice. We all wanted someone to pay for this atrocity. But what would compel a man to look at himself and say “I ain’t shaving till…”
“When the twin towers came down, I was horrified and I was glued to that television set for several days,” Weddle said during an interview with KOMO News in June of 2003. “And [I] realized that not only was I not taking showers I wasn’t shaving.”
Well check out Mr. Clean. Before the President could even officially make the announcement on national tv, The 50-year-old was cutting away
a beard that looks a lot like Osama Bin Laden’s facial faux paus.
“I wanted him to get rid of it, but it was his vow,” his wife said. “I respected his passion and keeping a vow. I was willing to look past the beard because I love him.
“He looks 10 years younger. It’s a very happy moment for us. It’s a very happy moment for the whole nation.”
So the next time you see football players with hair straggling out of his chin strap, or a Grizzly Adams wanna be, think of Gary Weddle. This is is a man who didn’t shave for 9 plus years because of the pain in his heart and the belief in his soul.
Just another good reason that Osama Bin Laden is dead.
And that is crazy.™