There are going to be a lot of people running around out there with masks on this week. People pretending to be something they're not — or maybe trying on something that in part they are, or want to be. (put on mask)1

Masks are interesting things. We all wear them, you know, and not just on Halloween. We put on the brave smiling mask when our hearts are breaking. We put on a gruff mask to keep people at a distance. We put on a wild and crazy mask to get attention or to avoid responsibility. We put on an "expert" mask to gain respect or to earn a living. Most of us have many masks.

Masks can be a means of survival for us, a way of hiding, perhaps, in a world that seems hostile. I have heard gay people talk about having to put on a mask, or perhaps a whole lion suit, to disguise their real…