Winning Words 10/31/12
“We all wear masks…metaphorically speaking.”  (Dr. Arthur Neuman)  I’ve read that the most popular Halloween mask this year, beside Obama and Romney, is a Zombie.  You might even wear one when you answer the door for the trick or treaters.  Oct 31 isn’t the only day when people disguise themselves.  Generally, family and close friends know what’s behind our mask.  I like Jim Carrey’s movie, “The Mask.”    ;-)  Jack

 FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Some of us are scary enough just as we are, without adding a superficial mask.  I like Abraham Lincoln's response when he was criticized for being two-faced:  "If I had two faces to choose from, do you think I'd be wearing this one?"////FROM JACK:  11-yr-old Grace Bedell wrote to Lincoln and suggested that he grow a beard, because "All the ladies like whiskers."  Ask your wife if that's true.

 FROM DR PAUL IN MICHIGAN:  Remind me to tell you the story about my daughter and her grandfather and a halloween mask.  It really fits what you're saying here and it's funny!////FROM JACK:  I'm reminding you!

 FROM DR ERIC IN MICHIGAN:  Depending on which side of the fence you're on, one may say either Obama or Romney are pretty darn frightening!  I'm going to wear my scary old man mask again this year. Hope the kiddos don't blow away tonight...////FROM JACK:  One of these years you can discard the mask.

 FROM HAPPY TRAILS IN NOVA SCOTIA:  I like that movie too.////FROM JACK:  The special effects fascinate me.////HT:  I like it that the dog retrieved the mask////JACK:  The dog is a Jack Russell terrier and his name is, Milo.

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  The word "persona" can be translated to "mask", as in the "actor" who one pretends to be someone or something else. Clearly, one who is acting is not authentically oneself, and it is useful to wonder how pretending is preferred to honesty and authenticity. It appears authenticity and honesty lay behind the mask, and the courage to be oneself, honestly exposed, is our greater challenge. I'm going to wear my own face today...I hope it's not too scary!////FROM JACK:  A clergy collar can sometimes be construed as a mask.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  I know I start wearing a mask when first having a conversation with anyone about politics and also confess the same is true sometimes about religion because sometimes people I meet are really aggressive about their opinions--scarey in fact--and I don't like to argue with scarey people. Some of them probably think I'm scarey too--too wimpish and besides maybe not thinking like them. Scarey to have such differences between us. Boo!////FROM JACK:  I remember a paper mache mask that my mother used to wear on Halloween.  It was a baby doll and not scarey, at all.

 FROM (SAINT) JUDY:  We do all wear masks sometimes, but I would surely change mine somedays if I could.  Jim Carrey is a gifted actor.////FROM JACK:  The good thing about masks is that they are not permanently attatched.  We can remove them, if we really want to.

 FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  Some are uglier than others, metaphorically speaking of course.////FROM JACK:  Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.  Some people have been heard to say, "I don't know what she sees in him."////JON:  Please don't quote people talking about my wife. "I don't know what she sees in him." ////JACK:  I've never tasted ugli fruit.  I wonder how it got it's name?

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Only the Shadow knows////FROM JACK:  I always wondered how The Shadow was able to make himself invisible.  As a kid, I also wondered what it would be like to be able to become invisible.  I still wonder.