“Is it true what Fezzik said, Mr. E.?”
“What’s that Lizzy?”
“Well, Fezzik says that you can’t trust people in masks. Is it true?”
“And who’s Fezzik?”
“He’s that big man in The Princess Bride and he says you can’t trust people in masks. Is it true?”
“Why do you ask, Lizzy?”
“Because my best friend Noel is sick and she has to wear a flu mask and she’s my best friend but if I can’t trust her because she’s wearing a mask how can she still be my best friend. I like her a lot.”
“Well, Liz,” I began to answer before she interrupted.
“And on Halloween,” she continued, “I wear a mask so does that mean my mommy and daddy can’t trust me? They can trust me, right? Because they’re my mommy and daddy and they have to, right? Especially since they got the mask for me and helped me put it on right.”
“Well, Liz,” I began, before she interrupted again.
“And sometimes when we’re playing dress-up we sometimes wear sort-of masks but its not like a real mask but nobody sees us so does it still count?”
I told her she could still trust her best friend, and not to worry because her mommy and daddy still trusted her, and playing dress-up with sort-of masks was okay.
For a brief moment, I thought of trying to explain to her motive and context relative to mask-wearing, but then I remembered … she’s just a kid. Was I really going to dive into some esoteric discussion with her, bring up Kierkegaard’s thoughts on the masks that people wear, or wax philosophic on villains, masks and movies? With a 7-year-old? Really?
No, I wasn’t. Nor will I with you. At least not today.
However, I will leave you with this thought: Can you be trusted when you wear a “mask”?
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