The Boy Behind the Mask

This week I have been involved in an intensive five-day training. On the 7th floor, we have been studying various teaching vignettes for quality of instructional methods. The day usually began at 8AM and concluded at around 5PM. Needless to say, we were all very tired when the evening would arrive. However, this one afternoon, we were given an early departure to go and enjoy the town in which we had been staying.

After going back to the hotel room and changing clothes, I stepped onto the elevator and hit the lobby button. I waited patiently as I listened to the cubicle moving past each floor, sometimes stopping to pick up a guest or drop one off. Eventually, the bell sounded announcing our arrival on the lobby floor. The wooden doors slid open and I began to step out.

My eyes immediately went to a small boy standing beside his father, and waiting to enter the elevator. The boy was wearing a very scary mask. My mind immediately searched the month, thinking momentarily that it may be Halloween. However, it was August so I put that thought aside. Then I began to wonder exactly why a young boy might walk around the hotel lobby wearing a scary mask. I couldn't come up with any substantial reason.

As I walked past him, the father said to me, "He's scary, isn't he?" I commented, "Most definitely" and smiled at the boy. How easy it would be to exchange masks for the many moods that I go through each day: a happy clown mask, a sad mask, an energetic mask, and even a scary mask. Too bad we think that masks are only for children or for Halloween, when we all have a vast array of them just waiting to pull the right one out to fool those around us.