Take control of your destiny...

Last night, kids (and kids at heart) everywhere dressed in costumes and went door to door celebrating Halloween: a tradition that has long instilled the thrill of costuming in many of us.  My costume history has a different source: years ago, I suffered a serious industrial accident and spent several years in recovery. Unfortunately, that recovery also left me addicted to pain medications at a time when little was known about the dangers of those meds. And even less was known about gently getting someone off them. When my doctors suggested they couldn’t help, a friend introduced me to the wonders of clowning – you know, painting your face, slapstick humor, crazy tricks. He helped me get enrolled in a regional  clown school run by the famous Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus people. For nearly 8 weeks after learning some rudimentary skills, I played the clown in hospitals and community centers: everyone laughed while allowing me to stutter and stumble my way to better health. I still have the face paint and wig, the big tie and floppy shoes, and the memory of a story that only a costume could tell. And the lesson I learned is that we are each responsible for who and what we wish to become. Decide what you want to wear today.

 

Mason Cooley (1927 – 2002): American professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the College of Staten Island and an aphorist known for his witty aphorisms