We Wear the Mask

By Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Young Tim Burton (10-23-2009)

Just imagining what Tim Burton would be like as a kid getting ready for Halloween.  Something of a cross between the Muppet Babies and H.R. Giger, I’d imagine.

Metra Friend #3: Mouth Breather (10-23-2009)

Another regular on my train. He doesn’t actually breathe through his mouth, but he sure looks like it.

Waiting to be Put Down (10-23-2009)

Autumnal thoughts on an rainy day.

Nate Walldren, AKA

For those of you who may not already have heard (or received your birth announcement yet), Nathan Allan Walldren was born on September 24, 2009 at 9lbs, 12 oz. He was 22 inches long, although I’m guessing he’s already outgrown that length and will shortly begin his career in the NBA. Mom and Baby are doing well.

O Homem da Máscara de Ferro (08-20-2009)

Semantics (08-19-2009)

Marginalized (08-18-2009)

Gnostic Archetype (08-17-2009)

Yesterday, Christina and I went to see the film “District 9″, a film whose central theme is man’s inhumanity to man.  While the film treats its subject with black humor, it really made me start thinking about its theme more and more.

One of the BEST books I have read that explores the seeming pointless of cruelty and human suffering was Blood Meridian.  This book was recommended to me by a long-time family friend, Larry.  Larry suggested I read it after I posted a comment about having read “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. But I digress.

In Blood Meridian, we follow “The Kid” and a pack of scalp-hunters around the Southwest. The group engages in all sorts of violence and butchery with each incident becoming more brutal. They are on the hunt for those “godless” savages who pose such a disastrous threat to the White Man.  As they progress through their sweep of the territories, they start indiscriminately killing Native Americans, Mexicans, and Whites alike to get a larger bounty.

The main antagonist in this novel, though not the ‘leader’ of the gang, is the character of The Judge. Judge Holden (pictured above in my sketch) represents both man’s ingenuity and cruelty.  He is described as being immensely tall, albino, and hairless - resembling an adult baby.  Were this a more light-hearted (read: different) novel, he would be almost comical in appearance and action - closer to a Dr. Strangelove character.  He stirs up trouble wherever he goes and goes from learned renaissance man to psychotic killer with a simple change of venue.  He was described on Wikipedia as a “Gnostic Archetype”.

An archetype is something that serves as a model or basis for making copies. Holden can definitely be viewed as such. He is the embodiment of human knowledge, wisdom, and cruelty. There is something eternal about his character - as it seems like we’ve encountered men like him throughout history.

“It makes no difference what men think of war…War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be.” - The Judge

Scary, thought-provoking stuff.