He arrived at his office – no holydays this year, what a shame!
It was
still early and exactly as he wanted; without wasting time, he went on
distributing his package – a brown pack like the one you get on a bakery
contained a series of objects he started to put on his co-workers’ desks.
When they
arrived, that was the first thing they saw: a shining brilliant mask, a black
and white mask, a yellow, green or blue mask. Masks were everywhere!
Nobody was
happy with having to work so close to Christmas; the only good thing was the
absence of clients (the company would be so good without those people!).
Without
thinking, any order or even a suggestion, everybody started to wear masks and
related to each other behind them.
When the
boss arrived – another victim of his company’s policy of working on Christmas’
eve – he also had a mask over his desk; after a minute or two of vacillation,
he decided to wear it too. For that, people went crazy!
They were
producing and working whatever they have to do one day before a wonderful
holiday, but the mask had an unexpected effect… You see, John and Mary were not
talking for more than a month, and now they found them drinking coffee
together.
Peter and
Paul on the other hand used to be as close as friends; with the masks on they
were avoiding each other; and so on, many people displayed very strange
behavior and around midday, when their shift would be over and they could go
home, there was a strange tension in the air.
Just before
everybody left – and everyone was kind of I
want to escape from here – Andrew, a very quiet guy, step forward and asked
for attention.
“Hi
everyone! I hoped you enjoyed the masks… I brought to you as my Christmas gift,
but also, I wanted to see what happened when you are wearing it. I am sure you
realized much of the dynamic among us changed. So, let me just suggest one
simple thing: take the mask off, everyone at the same time, 3, 2, 1…”
Slowly,
each one took off the mask and started to look around. There was a wave of
realization in relation to the real
person behind the mask… and gradually a smile emerged in each face. And
laughter started to sound.
After a
while, Andrew took over to speak again.
“I would
like you to think of this small experiment when you go back today to your
family, friends or wherever you go, because many times we are wearing this
invisible mask that covers our real feelings and intentions. We want to express
them, but the mask does not allow it. And I would like to suggest you to remove
your invisible mask” – and he did a funny gesture, as if he was still wearing a
mask – “and look into the eyes of each person you see around you, at your home
and other places. Look inside and see the real person there.”
He stopped
a bit, he looked embarrassed, but nobody said anything, some people even have
tears in their eyes.
“A
wonderful Merry Christmas to each one!”
