charActor

 

Curated, Crafted, Calibrated, Calculated

(clandestine) Character

A cool, calm and collected charActor

What is a mask? Is it something that covers and hides the face? Or is it something that the face covers and hides behind?

I had posed a similar question to a few close people in my life. Whose fault is it: the fool for believing in the fool’s gold to be real? Or the fool’s gold itself for not being real gold, almost as if it had planned to be deceptive? I haven’t come to a conclusion yet.

 

But I’ve found that the answer varies from person to person and sometimes the same answer, just delivered through another means. One said adamantly that it is the fool and at that point in time I believed it was deceptive of the fool’s gold to pose as real gold. I took their answer personally and in return adamantly disagreed. Another I asked and they were stumped. A third-party had to be brought in, to which their response was “It’s an inanimate object, correct?”

This answer prompted me to lean in the other direction that “Hey, maybe it is the fool’s fault”. The fool’s gold is just there, minding its own business, if you will. Not asking to be regarded as real gold. See, I thought there was deception in the inanimate object when perhaps it’s really the lens we look through that makes it deceptive.

 

So back to the question of masks. The answer depends on who you ask. Those who are of dubious in nature host meetings in the dark. They’ll tell you it is the fault of the fool for believing in fool’s gold, but only because, they don’t want to admit to their darkness. Perhaps, the fool’s gold is deceptive – let’s take that route. It’s not going to want you to know that fact. It will deceive you into believing in what/who it is and deceive you into thinking you’re the issue, for not knowing any better, for being a fool!

Their answer should correlate to the masks. They would say it is the mask that covers and hide behind not that they are so deceptive that they need to have their mouth of lies covered and they need to cower behind a mask. A prison they’ve made their home.

 

We’ll get back to that thought because I’ve just opened a whole new can of worms with that one phrase. But for now, let’s look at the absolute absurdity of placing the blame on an inanimate object. As if the mask chooses when to be put on and when to be taken off. As if the mask reveals or conceals character. From this ideal, it means that there is no option to take the mask off and breathe for a while. The mask then has the power, the say, the control over the person! Because it is the mask who decides!

Therefore, sorry to say, it is the fool’s issue for believing in fool’s gold. Look at the grammar of it: gold of the fool. The gold is in the possession of the fool. Poor fool.

 

Takeaway: Be careful, take heed and listen between the lines when you ask serious questions such as these. It is your job to discern.