2008 Woodie Awards
Or So She Thought
Decorate the tree, put on a mask, play perfect
Issue date: 11/30/05 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
Online Editor
This past weekend, I journeyed up a mountain in North Carolina with a couple of friends and their family to find the perfect Christmas tree. My family has put up an artificial Christmas tree my entire life, so it is an annual treat for me to take a trip with my friends' family to cut down a traditional tree.
After a two-hour drive curving up a mountainside, our group piled out of our respective vehicles and I looked out over the land of green trees waiting to be picked. Little figures bobbed in and out of the maze of trees and the distinct humming of a chain saw filled the air. We reached the entrance and split up, all on a hunt for our own perfect tree.
A friend and I found our tree within the first 10 minutes of the hunt and stood guard. The tree we had chosen was over 10 feet and rather wide. It was beautiful, on one side. The back had a hole in it and the inside was browning near the trunk. On the outside, however, it was green and lush and practically screamed Christmas. It was almost perfect, and almost perfect is close enough.
By the end of an hour, the tree had been cut down, bound with wire and strapped to the back of our truck. Over dinner, we talked about the three perfect Christmas trees we had purchased. Everyone was so blinded by how beautiful the trees were on the outside that it was easily forgotten that the trees were dying on the inside. The limbs were rotting and the needles were turning shades of brown. But with a few strands of lights, a little garland and colorful ornaments and a big star on top though, no one would be the wiser. And isn't that how we like to live our lives.
Sometimes it's easier to paint up the outside so pretty that no one even notices what is inside. As long as I smile and laugh and talk like nothing is wrong, then nothing is because that is what the world wants to see. Perhaps that is even what the world needs to see.
As a Christian, I am expected to be happy, to have this joy that exceeds anything else. And I do, but some days it is harder to smile than others. It would seem that no one wants to see that though. Just like my friends and I only wanted to see the beautiful outside of our perfect Christmas tree, the world only wants to see the smiling mask I put on because I am supposed to.
It can only be expected for others to do the same thing, to adorn a mask that will hide all the ugly parts. Hang an ornament here and adjust the lights there and suddenly you are perfect. Perfect to the world. In essence, we are all just a group of actors walking around in masks and costumes.