Deborah Corrao / L’Observateur / April 14, 2000

A teenaged friend of mine recently asked me, as part of a school project, to share some words of wisdom I had learned during my life.

My response: “Nothing is as it seems.”It’s like those Magic Eye pictures. I first saw them during a trip to theRiverwalk when an enterprising merchant displayed a couple of the poster size prints outside his stores. Flocks of folks gathered around them trying futilely tosee the three-dimensional “picture beneath the picture.”Finally, someone who worked in the store told us to look beyond the glare on the glass and into the pictures. Voila! There it was. I think that particular posterwas one of dinosaurs romping in the primordial forest.

After that, of course, I saw dolphins and flowers and hearts and butterflies. Anew world had opened up to me. I began to will my “Magic Eye” to see the secretpictures easily – much to the consternation of friends who still have not learned the skill. Fortunately for them the trend has passed and they no longerhave to feel inadequate.

The point, of course, is sometimes we have to look beneath the surface to see how things really are.

The truth is not always in plain view. Most of the time we have to focus our”Magic Eyes” and look beyond the top layer, to see past the superficial, in order to really know our fellow human beings or to look for reasons for the events in our lives.

The truth, when we finally see it, is not always pleasant. Sometimes it isgruesome beasts that pop out from innocent-looking “Magic Eye” pictures.

But at other times, the not-so-attractive top layer hides delightful surprises.

Just this week I had an encounter with a person that I had very little to do with mainly because I had judged her to be so into herself that she couldn’t open up to anyone else. She asked me how I was. She said she had noticed the last time shehad seen me that I had looked like I had been crying.

Yes, I had been crying that day. Others had seen me as well. But a week later sheremembered. She had looked into me, seen my pain, and cared enough to ask howI was doing.

As we go into Holy Week, it is time for each of us to start looking for the truth in others and in ourselves. We can use our newly-acquired “Magic Eyes” to seebeyond the grave into a new life.

Deborah Corrao is a regular columnist for L’Observateur

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