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Written by Arlii Hackbarth
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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
When the laughter fades away, becoming ever softer until you wonder if it was ever there, what do you hear? When the sermon has ended and the preacher asks for a decision, what do you feel? In that moment when happy conversation pauses and all others are beaming with joy, what do you see? In those moments, do you see faces?
The mailman, tired and haggard, delivering bills. The teen-ager, eyes lined in black, hiding her fears. The child laughing, while inside her soul is dying. Old, young, rich, poor, strong, frail, tall handsome, homely, short: all are faces. An endless march of faces, starting in the past and ending in eternity, ranging past your eyes. Each face with a grin, each grin on a mask, each mask with a crack. Some believe the mask is the only face they have, while others struggle to cast down a chipped and mangled facade to replace it with a genuine smile on a real face.
The hearts behind the masks cry out in thousands of lonely voices, "Remove my mask! See my beauty behind my facade! Help me!"
Do you see the faces as I do? Do you hear the haunting echos of their cries? You may see them in other countries, serving under cruel task masters. I see them here, living under the banner of the free, and yet in bondage. Working in the Home of the Brave, yet cowardly avoiding the truth. Poor in the prosperity given to them.
You know what the voice weep for. You know what to say. In the silence when all tongues lie still, what will you say?
Copyright 2008 Arlii Hackbarth
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