The Masquerade

09 Oct The Masquerade

Have you ever attended a masquerade ball or watched a scene of one on a show or movie? It is always a fancy affair with women wearing beautiful gowns and elaborate masquerade masks. The masquerade masks offer an air of intrigue; exquisitely designed with just the right measure of mystique. At the ball, you can be the picture of perfection with your perfect mask safely hiding your true identity.

In various settings, we may find ourselves putting on the mask. We may be dressed in our fancy suits, with our designer bags and maybe even red-bottom shoes, but we find that our outfits are not complete without our masks. Our masks are used to hide our fears, our shame, our pasts, but sometimes even our dreams or true calling. We all wear a different mask, but each is designed with the same purpose – to hide who we really are.

Vulnerability is not considered a safe place and revealing our truths can be scary; however we have to find that shelter where we can safely drop our masks. We also have to show empathy for the fellow mask-wearers around us. Despite what a person looks like on the outside you never know what they are dealing with on the inside. We have to be willing to not only remove our masks, but to be that safe haven where others can be free to remove theirs as well. If we never remove our masks, we rob the world of the beauty of our whole selves and all of the gifts and stories we have to share.