Hawthorn Hill Journal by Richard deRosa
Who Is that Masked Man?
As a kid, I loved listening to radio shows. We now live in a predominantly visual world, which does in its own way excite the imagination, but for me nothing compares to the imaginative spark that is ignited when envisioning the action in one’s own mind. My favorite show was “The Lone Ranger.”
That great line ending each episode reverberates in my mind to this day: Who is that masked man? Well, it was a man, along with his sidekick, Tonto, whose sole purpose was to battle evil. His mask, that only covered his eyes, symbolized good. When evil arose, he appeared with Tonto to take the bad guys down. Good always triumphed over evil. The Lone Ranger galloped off with great fanfare, crying “Hi-ho, Silver!” as he most surely once again would battle evil and prove once again that truth and goodness reign supreme. At least they seemed to have a fighting chance, both in that fictional world and the one I grew up in. Many years ago my wife, Sandy, gave me a collection of Lone Ranger radio tapes. What a great present. I listened to them many times on a portable cassette player while driving to work. Got me pumped up for day in the classroom. Unfortunately, when we moved to Cooperstown from Cherry Valley, the box containing the tapes never made it. Conspiracy theories abound. My delight at receiving that present is matched only by two other wonderful gifts: the 12-volume OED and the complete works of John Burroughs. An 81-year-old man now, I still feel a ripple of excitement course through my body when I replay those words in mind.
Masks are great, especially if one does not wish to contract a possibly fatal or debilitating disease. Normally, masks are worn at costume parties, garb associated with holiday rituals, and often by criminals wishing to conceal their identity. The latter seems reasonable if one wishes to escape capture, although not even that might save one, given the proclivity of most criminals to make a fatal mistake that enables “legitimate” law enforcement officials to eventually corral them. And then there is DNA. Masking has many uses in many cultures. They function symbolically. Their appearance means something; it is masking for a cultural purpose. It is not masking to conceal one’s identity. It is not, as we evidence in this country every day, an act of cowardice by so-called ICE agents lurking about the country willfully grabbing up human beings off the streets as if they were cattle to be hauled off to the slaughterhouse. Ironically, the masked ICE agent manhandling frightened human beings admits, by virtue of his masked-ness, to being afraid of being seen. When you are seen you give away yourself. Hiding behind a mask provides temporary shelter from being seen by the “other.” When one is seen, that is, unmasked, one is forced into intimate contact with another’s actuality, another’s existence. By concealing oneself behind a mask, one is offered a temporary respite from responsibility for one’s actions. It enables the most hideous of actions to escape culpability. At least for a moment or two. I suspect some of these masked marauders must have, to be kind, second thoughts about their culpability in what can only be characterized as a reign of terror. I hope so, for that is their only hope for some modicum of redemption.
I agree with the majority of Americans who believe in more efficiently managed borders. I agree that illegal immigrants who are a danger to the community or guilty of crimes should be apprehended and, if so determined by a court of law, deported or jailed. But each and every one of these individuals is entitled to due process. Not affording them due process, a right clearly stipulated in our Constitution, undermines the very foundations of our constitutional system. Their alleged illegality is irrelevant. That needs to be proven in a court of law, not determined by a bunch of unidentified street roamers claiming to be ICE agents. When police officers stop you or pull you over, they are not wearing masks. They wear clearly-marked uniforms with badges and most of the time act in accordance with standard procedures. There is no reason whatsoever for any legitimate government officer to either hide behind a mask or not identify himself/herself. That is not the way we do things here in these United States. Has the gestapo reincarnated itself in America? I hope not. Meanwhile, no lone ranger, no matter how good he is at his job, can tackle evil alone. As they say, it takes a village. Each and every one of us, in our own way, has a duty to meet evil head on. Hi-ho, Silver! Get ‘em up, Scout!
Dick deRosa’s Hawthorn Hill essays have appeared in “The Freeman’s Journal” since 1998. A collection, “Hawthorn Hill Journal: Selected Essays,” was published in 2012. He is a retired English teacher.
