The day after Halloween

"We wear the mask", says Langston.

I had a conversation with my sister today. It was about my brother who is paralyzed now from the waist down. We were discussing his behavior and how this challenge was getting the best of him. He didn't want anyone to see him in his condition. I stated to her that over time, we build these identities with our family and friends that are false, and their comes the moment when they crash and the illusion breaks. Now they feel a sense of identity crises and there comes the point where you have to find what was always there. You. This is what my brother is experiencing. He is being torn away from his illusory identity. This might mean a new relationship with family, as well as finding new friends. We shouldn't try to nurture and hold on to this old identity to make them "feel better", but push them to transcend it. For example, when we take our kids trick or treating on halloween, we dress them up in costumes that seemingly consume their character. We as parents laugh, have fun knowing that they'll take them off and be a normal kid again the next day. We treat each other like this in our daily lives. We watch people dress up in these personality costumes, laugh and joke expecting that they'll take the mask off the next day. But it doesn't come off. It stays there and consumes their soul. My brother has been consumed and now he has crashed. His costume of false identity has been taken off almost costing him his life. He feels that he has lost something. In actuality he has come upon a great discovery, simply the day after Halloween.