"Someone wonderful"

When A. came to the farm, he was still harried by questions of meaning and purpose. “I felt like I was coming out of a nightmare,” he says softly. “Was I really on the street? Was that me? I had been panhandling for money. This hurts so bad. You know the stinky guys you see in parks? That was me. That was me. That was me. That’s how I was living. So much pain for all the stuff I’ve done in my life.”

Some of A.'s new friends could see that his spirit was every bit as bruised as his body. With this in this mind, they suggested that he get – of all things - a haircut. A new haircut as a remedy for despair? It does sound funny, but these friends reasoned that if A. could look into the mirror and see a fresh, well-groomed person, he might be inspired to pursue sobriety and new life. A. remembers, “They took me to get a haircut, and we took all the hair off. I thought, ‘the old person has to be gone.’

He breaks into a grin.

“I came back out. One woman looking on began to cry. She said, ‘I knew there was someone wonderful under all that.’ ”