just lather

just lather

“Just Lather, That’s All”

"Just Lather, That's All," a short story written by Hernando Tellez, describes the tough choice a barber faces between seeking revenge on an evil murderer or simply just doing his job. In the end, the barber chooses to be honorable and spare the life of this evil man thus preserving his job and his reputation. Although it’s human nature to think that revenge is sometimes the best option to solve problems, one should always do right even when no one is looking.
It all begins slowly, when a rugged, bearded man enters a barber shop and asks for a shave.   The barber immediately recognizes the man as Captain Torres, an evil man who has been brutally killing the revolutionaries of which the barber was part. The barber likes his job, and is really proud of it, saying, "I am a good barber, the best in town." Knowing this man had killed his friends upsets the barber. The fact that Torres had killed his friends angered him, but the way he had done it pushed him over the edge. Not only had he killed them but he hung their dead bodies in the trees and took target practice at certain parts of their bodies. In the beginning, the barber is thinking very clearly, but as time went on his thoughts turned violent. He battles back and forth with himself on whether or not he should kill Torres.
On one hand, this man has killed many of his friends and soon will kill more, but on the other, the barber has a duty to do his job and do it correctly. He had to think of the consequence; because killing does not solve problems but brings anger to other people and makes the problems bigger. He knows his obligation is to shave the beard of Torres just like he is any other customer, making sure not to even scratch him. The way he looks at the four day old beard as a challenge proves he is, in fact, committed to his job. The way Tellez describes how the barber opens up his razor shows that he is the one who has all the power in this situation.
The barber...