Take off mask and show how you feel
YOU cannot but have noticed the images on TV about the need for masks.
According to Wikipedia: typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment.
Masks have been used since antiquity, the oldest dates to 7000 BC.
It continues in the pop culture, in the movies The Mask, The Man In The Iron Mask, etc.
Who could forget The Silence of the Lambs with the mask of Hannibal Lecter?
However, the mask I was thinking of cannot be bought.
It is one that we make up in our minds, pretend to be other than we are, when facing the outside world in general.
It must be said that sometimes these masks are useful.
If your child has to go to hospital for an operation and they are upset, the truth is, that you’re upset.
It’s not going to help the child to know this, so out comes the mask of knowledge and assurance, ‘everything is going to be fine’.
In different situations these masks are damaging to our health of mind.
Jesus spoke about this: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25) (NIV)
The word hypocrite means actor.
In the times of the Greeks actors would wear giant masks to portray their role.
There is a positive principal here.
It is, don’t put a mask on and pretend everything is fine when you need help on the inside.
In this present time we are all facing situations that can feel overwhelming.
Emotions can be difficult to deal with, but we need to deal with it by taking the mask off with a close friend or trustworthy person and share with them how we really feel inside.