When the teacher teaches while wearing a mask, you know it is going to be twisted and interesting. While it is natural to hide our self behind a mask, it is unusual to blatantly reveal we are wearing a mask. I like the approach. Take what we all know to be true but cannot, will not talk about it, and put it out in the open. I can only imagine what might happen if this moved beyond the classroom and extended itself across every aspect of living.
In this reality, people would see our masks and, on occasion, our true identity. There would be little left to doubt. The only question is how life like we could make our false personas! If we were good at faking it, so good that everyone thought it was real, then our moment of revelation would in itself be seen as just another mask.
Even as I begin to imagine the possibilities, I find myself letting people I know into the scene. Some try to be all things to all people. Everyone knows they are going to fail but it is funny and sad to watch them attempt the impossible. They there are those that try to paint themselves as altruistic people supporting the common good. As the different masks come off and new ones come on, I begin to wonder. When I see that “they mark the luckless, then wait like a hunter in a blind; when the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back.” (Psalm 10.9) I know that they are charlatans, exploiting and consuming others for their benefit.
As the story unfolds in my mind, I wonder how my character is doing. Have I turned away from others, focusing only on myself. Am I a user? Have the best of my aspirations emerged?
I look out and think of the emerging streams of light coming with the day. We are all characters in a story. I wonder about my masks and where I fit. We will tell others about the story by living.
