After the international malaise has settled down and its time to edge out of the cocoons, any thoughts of inviting neighbors, friends, co-workers for a get together with hopes of skittish newbies agreeing to come if they can show up wearing masks of any type - surgical, gorilla, Freddy Krueger, whomever, to lessen their shyness?
Most newbies don't want people to recognize them. People have held 'masked balls' since the earth was flat. Can it translate to to having newbies feel a 'little' relaxed if they can ease their way in at a cookout or something? Catch a little sun in all the right places? (Except for their face?)
According to legend, a group of dons and students were swimming and sunbathing naked on the riverbank when a punt full of young women came by. All the swimmers and sunbathers covered up their genitals except one – Maurice Bowra, the sometime professor of poetry, and John Sparrow, the warden of All Souls, have both been identified – who put a towel over his head, explaining afterwards: “I, at least, am known in Oxford by my face.”
Thank you for that. I had heard that story long ago, but couldn't remember to whom it was attributed.
Wearing a mask among others who are masked has always been an excellent way to reduce inhibitions. Add alcohol, and anything can and may happen. Oscar Wilde's writings are full of references to wearing masks. Most famously, he wrote: "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." However, my favorite of Wilde's on the subject is: "A mask tells us more than a face." Consider the guy in this drawing. The mask gives him the confidence not to hide his limitations. We all fear being judged by others' eyes. It's just a matter of getting past that fear.
