As summer has waned and eased into autumn, the deciduous trees have turned to that “it’s-all-over-for-this-year” dull green, with small bursts and streaks of color here and there, as highlights on fading tresses.  While driving, I could not but help lifting my sunglasses up and down, checking the differences.

With shades on, the changing leaf colors are deeply apparent – the russet lurking beneath pops forward, revealed as if through magic glasses.  Take them off and it is back to a spent, drab green again.  Which is the true color?  Do these sunglasses reveal what is actually beneath the exterior?  On.  Off.  On.  Off.

Not unlike the x-ray glasses they used to sell at the back of the comic books of childhood, with promises of skeletons or revelation through an unsuspecting someone’s clothes (!!!), wouldn’t it be amazing if we could don a pair of magic sunglasses and see the truth?

What if we could instantly see who people truly are beneath their facades?  That grumpy, scowling man is actually full of rainbow hues once you look through those glasses.  Beneath that smiling, peaceful woman perhaps lurks some dark malevolence you would never guess at.  That pretty girl with the bitchy face might be the most lovely, caring person despite her demeanor.  Those declarations of love could just be an illusion. That aloofness might just be armor.

The glasses could reveal well beyond personality traits. Under that healthy glow could lurk a brewing illness.  Is that house you are considering buying totally solid beneath?  Is this prospective job as bad as it seems?  Or as good?  Does any politician really ever tell the truth?

Perhaps these magic sunglasses should be adorned with crystals and glitter to indicate their special powers.  Or maybe they should remain plain and undecorated in order that one could go incognito, a mild-mannered disguise.

Wouldn’t it be great to not really need those filters at all?  Or would that render everything much too dull?  It could be that our illusions are actually necessary in order to navigate through this life.

~*~