What's Behind the Mask

Image @ clc.tv

I met a man on Tuesday who had kind eyes and a polite manner. When our conversation began, we spoke of technical things related to the mask he wears for his job, safety ratings, gas mileage, cargo space, etc. But the magical part of our encounter happened after we sat down to discuss financial matters. In the downtime between credit checks and general accounting flibberty jibbit, he and I spoke of "people". He talked about his grandmother with gentleness and respect, his father, who passed away six years ago and before that instilled in him values that seem old fashioned and out of date in today's world. To my mind, however, those values will never be out of fashion. His father taught him about standing on his own two feet, taking care of family, and treating others "right". I nodded my agreement and said to him, "In the end, the only things that truly matter in this world are how we treat others, and the love we share. It is the only thing of real value that we will ever have or give." He smiled at me. "Yes ma'am," he agreed quietly.

As the finance manager approached us to discuss various terms in the sale of a car, he too was sucked into a lengthy discussion about who he was behind his "mask". He told me he had served in the Air Force and talked about his job, bases where he'd been, etc. His eyes lit up as he shared his stories with me and it makes my heart all squishy remembering how his entire demeanor changed. Beyond the numbers, the business at hand, my daughter and I got to meet the men behind those titles, those masks they wear all day.

People. Stories. Every single human being walking this Earth has a heart that beats with passion for something and a soul that recognizes other souls around it well beyond those masks we all wear per our place in society. Sure, those two men I've been speaking with the last two days are a car salesman and a finance manager for a random car dealership in Western North Carolina. But that is not ALL they are. They are men who treated me and my daughter with respect, cared about much, much more than the money they would make from a sale, and let their masks slip happily away when dealing with a woman they didn't know whose main concern was for the safety and well-being of her child.