When The Mask Slips

The truth is, everyone wears a mask sometimes, showing one side to the world while another part goes unnoticed. But I’ve come to understand that even the smallest harm we cause can stay with someone long after we’ve moved on. And as much as we might want to leave our mistakes in the past, they linger in the lives of those who carry the scars.

Comeuppance, for me, hasn’t been a grand reckoning but rather a personal one—a call to see my own actions clearly, without the filter of self-justification. It’s the work of removing my own masks, of facing who I’ve been to others and finding ways to be more conscious, more careful. Because if my kindness doesn’t reach those who have borne my missteps, am I really as good as I want to believe?

We talk about karma as if it’s some cosmic justice, but sometimes, karma is the simple reality of realizing that those who were hurt remember, even if we’d rather they didn’t. For me, that’s enough of a reason to be better, to tread more gently, and to be sure that the person I want to be is the same person others truly experience.

A pocketful of sunshine and