Love covers a multitude of sins, theatrics hides the rest. No one knows theatrics better than the parent of a three-year-old girl. Tell her, “No.” and the performance that follows surely would win an academy award but it’s not just small children who, strut and fret their hour on the stage.
We all perform our little plays to one another, performing little dances to get our way, hide our feelings from others or hide the truth from ourselves. In essence, we lie to one another, and ourselves, on a daily basis.
And, after all, what is a lie? ‘Tis but the truth in masquerade
-Lord Byron
As a crime scene investigator, I often run into the CSI effect. It’s when the general public indulges in true crime shows and forensic thrillers until they believe everything they have watched is gospel and I, a real-life CSI, should be able to do it all. In those instances the victim does not want to hear, I’m sorry there is nothing I can do. They want it solved in an hour with commercial breaks. Instead of arguing with their delusion about my job, I “throw powder“. I will go through the theatrics of processing a scene, of throwing fingerprint powder around, knowing that I will not recover any evidence for one reason or the other. I lie to make the victim feel as though something more is being done when in reality nothing more, at least at that time, can be done.
A couple of days ago, I watched the movie, Constantine (I like movies that involve the supernatural but aren’t focused on brutal gore) I went on about my life until the following day, during my quiet time, I was reading through the book of Acts where Paul and the other apostles spread the teachings of Christ, healing, and casting out demons. That is when I began thinking about scenes in movies where an exorcist is trying to remove a demon. They need special items like mirrors and holy water, or relics like the bones of a saint, and many times they need a lot of time to do battle with the demon.
Acts 16:18 Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
Paul didn’t need bones, holy water, or a praying montage with music and cut scenes. The demon came out at Paul’s command. How short and boring would movies like the Exorcist be if they portrayed the true power of God?
To tell you the truth, I’m bad at lying and I’m glad about it. Where in your life do you use theatrics, throwing powder even for seemingly good reasons, and do you ever think it’s okay? What are some of your favorite movies that are overly dramatic but you like them anyway?
I hope you have a good week, and keep developing yourself. A project update will be coming soon.
The Latent Man 