Camouflaged

How can anyone see us if we're hiding?

by Roland Kriewaldt

My mother works the land she and my father own, planting flowers and trees everywhere. One day I was walking along the driveway at my parent's house, looking for her, just to see what she was working on.

I stopped in one spot by a hillside and stared in the direction of something that had caught my attention. But I saw nothing, and so I moved on. Within seconds I heard my mother's footsteps coming down from the hillside where I had just been looking. Where had she come from?

Shovel in hand, she'd been there all along — I just hadn't seen her. She had on a coat that blended almost perfectly with her background surroundings; the grey and brown landscape of a springtime thaw in Ontario, Canada, allowed her to disappear from view. And because I didn't see her, I couldn't say "hello."

This made me realize that she could have been looking at me wondering: "What's with him? Why isn't he saying something? Why is he just standing there staring at me?" It made for a perfect analogy about a common problem we face in our world.

And so it is, whether on the hillside at my parent's home, or in the great world beyond it, that everyone, to some degree, is wearing a coat that makes them difficult to see against the backdrop of their surroundings. Whether it be a combative personality disorder, the defensive armor of pride, or the brandishing of a trophy job, home, spouse, or some other form of protective social camouflage — how can the rest of the world say "hi" to us if we're always hiding from view?

Humility, integrity and authentic self–expression are nothing to hide from. How can anyone see us if we're hiding? Show yourself.