Editor’s Note: This op-ed is part of an ongoing dialogue created by Project Humanities, a university initiative at Arizona State University that explores how we make meaning of our shared experiences.

Do decency, integrity, ethics, forgiveness, respect, thoughtfulness, self-reflection, forgiveness, kindness, empathy, civility, morality, generosity, hope, and honesty mean anything to anyone today? Are these traits of weakness that separate the sheep from the wolves, the leaders from the followers, the innovators from the implementers?

Here we go again, talking out loud about the hair issue. I naively thought that we had done that issue to death, but the roots of the problem seem not to have been adequately addressed. Perhaps a little context will help grasp what’s going on now.