Cutting Off The Top

Healthy, happy and in the company of friends makes shaving your head not anywhere near the traumatic event that children with cancer experience. When the Renegades baseball team campaigned for donations for St. Jude’s Hospital in exchange for their hair, it was not so they could put themselves in those children’s shoes. It was, though, to acknowledge them. To give up something very visible for someone who didn’t ask them to and will never know they did.

On a hot Friday afternoon the boys met after practice. They bravely held their heads over a garbage can while a teammate guided the razor across. For some it was an easy thing to do. For others it was very difficult. All resigned to the fact that their appearance was in the hands of their teammate.  For some the change was very minor. For others it was quite dramatic.

Their hair will grow back. Some might even decide to keep it short. Some are already longing for their shaggy heads. All of them though kept their promise to give something of themselves to raise funds for others. All of them were willing to give up a bit of vanity for something larger. They may not enjoy how they look at the moment. They might even be a bit uncomfortable with their short chops. They are though, as Coach Ugel puts it, becoming “comfortable being uncomfortable.” They are learning to let go and move past a distraction. However they feel about it, they can all hold their heads up a little higher.