My parents divorced when I was young.  Hindsight tells me that resulted in a fair amount of confusion and uncertainty, even though I didn’t recognize it at the time.  It likely explains, on some deeper psychological level, some of the nonsensical things that provide a sense of comfort even to this day.  Things like carports, covered porches, other overhangs and enclosures; airports, hospitals, other places that are always open; and structure or routines.  

One of those routines was watching the yearly broadcast of classics like ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’, ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Frosty the Snowman’, and ‘The Wizard of Oz’.  Pre-cable, pre-streaming (even pre-color in some instances), these were standard family routines.  Later, annual VHS viewings of ‘White Christmas’ became a new but similar routine. Likely because I could relate, I remember feeling bad for Charlie Brown, and angry at those making fun of Rudolph. I also remember being a little freaked out by flying monkeys, melting witches, and talking melting snowmen. Owning a quaint lodge somewhere like Vermont, or performing in dinner clubs across the world like entertainers Crosby, Kaye, Arnaz, or Sinatra has secretly always appealed to me.

Then there’s that pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain thing.

I routinely self-deprecate.  The fact it took me a minute to fully understand the Wizard’s deception doesn’t make me feel better about myself.  Nonetheless, all the above provide analogue to things like transparency, accessibility, reality, and routines.

Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote “Never value anything as profitable to yourself which shall compel you to break your promise, to lose your self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to behave hypocritically, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.” (emphasis added)

I was pretty much toast at point number one…with a firm twisting of the knife by the last.

The Apostle Paul put it another way: “”Everything is permissible” – but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” – but not everything is constructive.” (1 Cor. 10.23)

Consider the words of former FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood that perhaps cut deepest to the heart of the matter: When everything is tolerated, nothing is forbidden. Does that not typify today’s social condition? Moral relativism. Woe any who disagree or take a contrary stand based on their own values or viewpoints.

I’m certainly not qualified to cast stones. But it seems duplicitous to accuse people of intolerance or narrow-mindedness simply because they disagree or don’t embrace one thing or another, pointing the finger of judgment and demanding concurrence with their worldview – yet not giving others the same allowance to believe as they choose. We don’t have to agree on everything to respect one another…not embracing someone else’s beliefs, lifestyle, or opinion doesn’t automatically render the other person a bigot.

Like the Wizard, duplicity and transparency are just a couple of problems with many people and organizations. Its effects are compounded particularly within organizations, where people have been repeatedly ‘rewarded’ despite lackluster performance, or promoted beyond their level of competency, and are unable or unwilling to change. Instead, pride or a lack of humility keeps them in a land of Oz, protected by their walls (position) or concealed behind their curtain of favoritism and double-standards; blind or unconcerned to the impact of their actions. This obfuscated leadership tendency is likely one attribution to the phrase ‘smoke and mirrors’.

Two years ago I wrote ‘Friends without Coffee’, a tribute to my South Florida friend.  I described him as an unfiltered, anti-establishment kind of guy.  He isn’t one to beat around the bush.  He says what’s on his mind…no smoke and mirrors. While some cringe at that, he is the antithesis of the assertion “If you have politically correct opinions, you can get away with just about anything.”¹  

In a creative retelling of a Greek warrior-god in her book The Song of Achilles, author Madeline Miller masterfully describes this ‘direct’ disposition she gave Achilles: “He said what he meant.  He was puzzled if you did not.  Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?” 

It’s hard not to respect someone for being unapologetically real. Organizations and people, alike, could benefit from more reality.

And less window dressing.

Everyone is flawed. But refusing to acknowledge, change, or improve known shortcomings is willfully negligent. Taking the yellow brick road of prudence and humility is a good start. Maybe an apology or two. Probably best if I shuffled around the house on my knees to save time preparing for my next apology…

Sometimes we erect walls to protect ourselves because of past wrongs or heartache. We also hide parts of ourselves, our thoughts, or our actions to spare those we care about from the pain it would cause them. We even blur the truth for other reasons, right Santa Claus?

I don’t have it all figured out.

The fact is, I am a sinner saved by grace. Fortunately for those of us whose drapes are tattered from hiding behind them, “…a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body…” (Hebrews 10.20).

The truth will set you free.

Get Strong. Be Strong. Stay Strong.

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¹ Dobson, Ryan (2003). Be intolerant because some things are just stupid. Sisters, OR: Multnomah.

Miller, Madeline (2012). The song of achilles. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Robertson, Donald (2020). Meditations the philosophy classic (based on The Thoughts of Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, translated by George Long). West Sussex, UK: Wiley