Evan Bones Kendall's Site

Precision is everything. Precision is what makes one doctor better than another, one driver better than another, one basketball player better than another. It is frustrating to be around people who aren't as precise.

And there is acceptable precision and then there is superb precision. Thinking about surgeons, would you rather have an acceptable one or a superb one? How about car mechanics?

The real issue we face as a society is that quantity--because it is so easily quantifiable--is overemphasized. But quantity doesn't get the best surgeon nor the best mechanic.

In producing so much, we tend to cheapen or diminish one's need for skill. Take, for instance, shaving.

It used to be that shaving happened with a straight razor, sometimes called a cut throat. They are dangerous and require skill. People used to go to barbers who were trained and regulated, but many shaved at home the way men do today...well, not like today.

Gillette made safety razors, mass producing something that was cheaper and easier to use...and then, eventually, to keep the novelty going, came out with twin, then three, then four blades and all kinds of stuff.

And shaving became the thing many men have become slaves to. Just buying the products costs, and then there's the shallow burden of running a safety razor across one's skin. There's nothing fun about it; there's no claim being staked.

But to shave with a straight razor...now that is staking a claim. It, every time, requires concentration and discipline. There is always danger...so there is always life. It also can be cheaper...until one starts collecting antique blades.

Starting to shave with a straight razor liberated me from Gillette's infantilization. Shaving went from being a chore that I had to do, to a ritual that I love to perform.

How much blood did it cost? I didn't measure...but used to cut myself all the time... Not anymore.

- Bones