A new and harsher way of life catches up with an old fashioned barber

EDITOR:

I have a friend. I’ll call him Nick. He’s a barber by trade. He’s been a barber for nearly half a generation. He has a nice, little shop. It’s clean and comfortable. He keeps a picture of his granddaughter on the top shelf of a wooden cabinet, just above the bottles of hair tonic. She’s smiling in the picture. Nick always speaks of her. He enjoys her, and it shows.

I like the way Nick cuts my hair. I like talking with his regular customers at least one Saturday a month while I wait for my turn in his chair. I like the scenic picture of a tropical island hanging on his wall, and the piano music of Floyd Cramer that plays on his stereo. I like most everything about Nick’s shop. It reminds me of a time when I was a young boy and my father would walk me down to Ernie’s Barber Shop on Steel Street for a haircut. Those were good days then. I thought those days would last forever.

But something is different now. Something has changed over the years. Today, there is a harsh urgency in living that is inescapable. It’s everywhere you go, even in Nick’s shop. You can hear it in the men’s voices when they speak. You can see it in their eyes. You can know it in their walk. It’s there just beneath the surface, percolating hot and strong, like Nick’s coffee. For some, it manifests itself in anger; for some, in worry; for others in just plain fear. These men are in a fight, and they know it. They are in a fight to make ends meet. They are in a fight to provide for their families. They are in a fight to protect a way of life inherited from their fathers. But they are swinging at shadows, and they are losing this fight. They are losing because there is no one in their corner to help them. They are losing because their opponent is faceless and opaque. Their opponent is greed. And how do you fight greed? Oh, they are losing this fight alright, and nobody has the courage to tell them why. But I know why. They are losing because this fight has been fixed, fixed by the big money of the oil and insurance industries, the pharmaceutical companies, the mortgage investment firms, and corrupt business leaders and politicians. Yes, this fight is fixed, and I’m not sure that these men will have the strength to answer the bell when the 10th round comes.

But big money likes it that way, it likes the odds in its favor. It likes to enrich itself at the expense of others. It likes to be able to raid the bank accounts of these men for health insurance premiums and utility payments. It likes to saddle these men with home mortgage loans that are one-sided and unfair. It likes to outsource work, bust unions, void pensions, and rescind collective bargaining agreements. It likes exploiting the unprotected workers of this world for its own gain. And it has no remorse in sending sons and daughters of this country to fight in a war in Iraq that is senseless. If you don’t believe me, pick up a newspaper. Read about the failure of energy deregulation. Read about how our federal government is precluded from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for a fair drug price. Read the testimony at congressional hearings by health insurance executives explaining how they deny Americans medical treatment to increase profits. Read how our government has been influenced by the money of the rich and powerful. Yes, big money is in control, and it likes it that way because control allows it to fulfill its all important self-perpetuating purpose — making more money.

I was scheduled for a haircut Saturday. I thought maybe I’d try to be more optimistic and provide Nick’s customers with some notion of hope for their future. After all, our country has seen tough times before, and it has always come back stronger than ever. But it will have to wait. The telephone rang today. It was one of Nick’s regulars. Nick is in the hospital. He’s been diagnosed with cancer. His shop is quiet and dark now. I’m sure he’s worried about how he will keep his business alive, how he’ll pay his mortgagee, and how he will provide for his family with the medical bills coming in. And, I’m sure he misses his little granddaughter — the one in the picture in his shop with the cute little smile. I pray he recovers, and will return to work soon. It won’t be an easy journey back though. In fact, it will be a tough fight for Nick. Big money has made sure of that.

DAVID BOBOVNYIK

Youngstown