Licking Valley courier., 1917-10-11
Taking Off the Mask.

our lives and let the world gaz,
on our naked souls? Is there ;
person living upon earth toda!
whose life is SO pure that the.
are willing to let the world know
their every thought and act?
Even if our publicsacts are no
subject to criticism, do we skeeT
our minds free from thoughts
that are evil; and do we ALLOW
our minds to dwell on thought.
that we dare not speak about? \
Sometimes a'man goes along
for years and years leading, 81
Tar as the community knows. y
blapelesS fife until in some Way
the mask slips aside and bis
friends turn in horror from the
revelation. 1t is the revelation
y the discovery of guilt in our
friend ratherthan the acts that
shocks US. We are filled with
horror, not that our friends life
was bad, but that we found it
out. We writhe under the discov-
cry that ohr friend has feet of
eay. Ithumiliatesu US to think
that for all the years we have
been mistaken in summing him
up.
Now; is not this friend just as
good after he was found cut as
bef@e?e And while we are loud
IN our denunciation of our erst-
while friend, would we dare walk
up and unroll the scroll of our
life and lay it side by side in
comparison with the life of that
friend?
We all wear masks, and it is
only when accident tears them
aside that we stand revealed to
the world as we are. l am not
referring to the major crimes
they reveal themselves-but to
what we term the minor sins.
All along the course of life we
do little acts and think thoughts
that we keep hid from even the
most intimate of our associates.
Sometimes we hear someone as
sert that his life is an open scroll
Ito be read by all, but it is not
true. With all his fervor and
devotion Paul had a besetting sin
that was "a thorn in the flesh."
The fact that we are battling
always to keep on our own mask
should make US more charitable
toward the faults of cur neigh
bors, but it don't. Those who
most successfully mask their own
faults from the public are often
ten the most relentless in strip
ping the mask from others. The
effort that we make to convince
the world, enormously, that our
own lives are blameless distorts
our vision and makes US uncharit |
able in our judgment. There is no |
truer axiom than that we Judge |
others by what we ourselves are. |
| am not seeking to indict hu-
manity in sweeping criticism. |
| am only seeking to call atten-
tion to the fact that we too fire.
quently have the wrong perspec.
tive of life. | hold it true that
the natural desire, unaffected by
artificial environment, of every
normal human being is to do
right; that love, sympathy, COM
passion, ETC., are the natural, |
spontaneous emotions OF the soul
and that hate, selfshness and
green are acquired attributes of |
the mind. Given proper environ !
ment and opportunities the hu. !
man race would rapidly grow to
that state of perfection contem-
plated by Christ when He gave
US the chart and compass of life.
y ~
Humanity has the wrong idea.
The mistake we make is in living
to make the world think we are
living right, instead of living
right. We wear a mask.
What "They" say is more po-
It than rs it right?" To the
frage person the possible con-
nnation of the public is the
{ noire of his existeDce-he |
q rs the unmasking. If wei
a Id arrive at the understand
b bf the true meaning of life
u 1--WE would shape our lives along