Taking off my mask and being unique

Taking off your mask!!

https://www.anispooner.com/amp/taking-off-the-mask-becoming-who-i-was-meant-to-be/

Hold it!!  We are to put on our masks!!  You know to wash your hands frequently, wear a mask to keep from spreading germs, spray sanitizer on things that have been touched, and I have the nerve to suggest that you “Take off your mask”!!

In the linked article, the author says,

“As a child, I was known as the town’s singer. By age 10 I was getting paid to sing at weddings, invited to the local high school to sing at their pep rallies, and heard a recording of my voice sing the National Anthem on the school speakers every morning. This made me feel unique.

“That kind of difference falls into the category of talent, which is considered an acceptable form of uniqueness. But society would ask us to separate what makes us distinct into different categories. Acceptable and not. Or worth sharing and requiring hiding. So makeup, even tattoos, become acceptable, but being born looking different is not. One was chosen and the other was... an accident?

“It's therefore at a young age that I found myself torn by this social conundrum. On the one hand, we live in communities that value exceptionalism, giftedness, and rareness, on the other, there is an expectation of sameness.”

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So  “we live in communities that value exceptionalism, giftedness and rareness” - yes - absolutely; and we live in communities that have an “expectation of sameness”.

Like this author, somehow, from about tenth grade, I decided I needed to be unique.  But, I also had to fit into the ‘mold’. 

I found my “mask” as a nerd!!  I was the founder and captain of the high school chess team and we even traveled to “away” games.  And I played tuba - not a very sexy instrument!! I was a so-so student in high school, but in college, I found a niche - where I could be both unique and fit in.  I was still a nerd and was so motivated (by fear of failing) that I became a strong student.  But, then I also fit in as a fraternity guy (maybe not the “Animal House” type - thank goodness).  

Unique - one-of-a-kind.  We are all that way - but we all try to fit into society.  Here is 1 Corinthians 12:14-21:

“ For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell?  But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.  If they were all the same member, where would the body be? So now there are many members, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.”

This suggests to me that we have a place.  I am not the ‘best’ at anything.  But, I do have a place in society.  And, like you, I am unique!!!  

As I retired, I lost much of my identity.  No longer could I walk across campus with the respect of a professor.  I was ‘just’ a has-been on a dead-end street in a Texas town.  I don’t know if some of this wasn’t part of the prompt to transition from male to female.

I have taken off my mask - figuratively; although I will keep wearing a mask in public!!!

Psalm 139:13-15 says

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”

So, how about you?  Are you unique - or are you “playing the part” that you have been expected to play?  How can you be both part of society and yet unique? Take the next couple of days to reflect on that.  If you are retired (like LMG, TF, and others), still working (RP, JB, KB, SS, and others) what uniqueness do you bring to the table?

Hugs!!!  Be safe!!

Karen