Quote
rattyboy
Around the same time, I watched a group of young men's division members, (all of us dressed in our 'whites'), pressure a new member to shave his mustache before some big event the next day. He was not into that idea at all but they kept at him. And he kept arguing back. The next day, the mustache was gone just in time for the big event. I think I was beaming with a smile about this with the other young men. What victory had we achieved? Did this show the almighty power of Buddhism?
Boy, can I relate to that story. I was in the brassband and was told that if I didn't cut my shoulder-length hair, I couldn't be in the band anymore. What they didn't count on was me saying "OK" and walking out the door! When they tried to gang up on me, I told them that what matters is on the inside. They said, "Yes, but your outer appearance reflects your insides." I interpreted that as "All men with long hair are bad people." So much for individuality within the organization! What's even funnier is that I had been faithfully going to band practice every week while other guys would show up sporadically and sometimes even forget to bring their instruments! To BAND practice! But they were OK to stay because they had short hair, and were therefore upstanding citizens. A little while later, they had relaxed the rules and invited me back. I can't tell you how much joy I experienced in telling them that I couldn't because I had sold my instrument after they had kicked me out.