As we approach Halloween during a pandemic, I started wondering.
Do we really feel like donning a costume mask after wearing one in our daily lives for six months?
I have heard people say that they notice how eyes smile more now that many are in masks. Or they meet new people who are wearing masks and then when they finally see their face, they do not recognize them as their brain created a face under the mask that did not match reality.
Symbolically, we all wore masks before COVID-19. Always hiding a part of our true, authentic selves. That chapter that only we read. Worried what others might think of us. Or what we might think of ourselves.
As Oscar Wilde said, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
Now that we’re wearing an actual mask, are we more of our true selves as we are not sure if we are recognizable? Does the actual mask cover the symbolic mask we always wore… smiling when we were sad. Saying we were fine when we were falling apart?
I wonder.
Whether you dress up or not. Hand out candies or not. Go door to door or not. May we take a moment to remove our masks… cloth, disposable, artistic or symbolic, put our feet up, and enjoy a few sweet treats to remind us that we are here. We are still moving forward. We are handling all the things. And we are enough.