Las Vegas is a Halloween Town, which is probably why I detest it. This is one of the only places of which I am aware where people act as if it's Halloween every day. People here regularly dress up as something they are not in order to please visitors and bilk them of as much money as possible. Consequently, it's difficult to tell who means what they say and who they are in this town when you meet them.
There are two ways to discern people's true character- by observation or by inspiration. The trouble with observation is that some of the people wear masks so often that they can convince people that they really are what they pretend to be. They sometimes forget who they were without the mask, and in reality they tend to become different people in each of the circles they happen to inhabit. Information and observation work only so far, because even if the information we obtain substantiates our conclusions, frequently information that is also true remains unknown to us. For this reason, I also turn to inspiration as a guide. It's not always easy to understand, but it also guides how I decide with whom to interact.
My students spend enough time with me to learn that I am me. Perhaps the most valuable lesson for mortality that I learned from my ex-wife was that it was better for me to be me. Sometimes it drives away people who might otherwise want to get to know me. Sometimes it gets me in trouble. Always, I sleep well knowing that I was true to myself. It allows me to make real reformations because I don't pretend to be something I am not, and that means that efforts I make to change myself are based on a true starting point.
Even when people appear to be what they claim to be, sometimes they find out that it was something they were pretending to be. Humans tend to become what they pretend to be, and sometimes we choose to pretend to be something hoping that it will stick. Eventually, something arises that asks us to prove whether we really mean it, and then we find out who the pretenders are, who the portenders are, and who the real people are.
I am disappointed sometimes to find out that people I know are fake. I am also disappointed to discover that some of them are fake but didn't know it. Some people I know in Vegas honestly and earnestly hoped to be the kind of people consistent with their actions. Even I sometimes discover that I'm less than I ought to be.
Shakespeare taught us that all of us are players. He was right. We are all playing parts, pretending to be things we cannot possibly be. The fact of the matter is that even the best of us are not good enough. This is why good men avoid bad situations and activities, not because we are too good for people who are there, but because we are not good enough. Each of us needs the Savior to tell God that He has taken responsibility for our pretenses and rebellions. Only Christ walks around without a mask, without a secret agenda, without an ulterior motive. Even in a Halloween town, He is the only one without any kind of mask.
People who know me well know that I detest Halloween. I see very little point in dressing up our children as servants of the adversary and then sending them out to extort candy from strangers under veiled threats of vandalism. I know that sometimes I don't live up to my vestments or my high-browed ideals. In those times, I feel like a hypocrite. In those times, I am tested to discover whether I will let Christ dress up as me and take credit for my weaknesses. At that point, I am glad someone is willing to dress up my life and make me seem like something I am not. He is my hope. He is what I aspire to be. He is my superhero. He is the only way I know to be something better than I am, and this year I thank God for teaching me to see Halloween from this point of view. As others around me pretend to things they don't mean, I get to prove that I portend to things that I do mean, and that gives me hope.
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