The Pendulum
Mask #376 of 613 — a wearable identity from X. Masquerade (2025), the sixth chapter of LUCI by Sam Spratt.
- Category
- Luminate
- Material
- Wood
- Region
- Monument Garden
- Attendee
- Masked Guest
Observation
My observation may seem obvious, cliché. I don’t care. Parenthood is life-altering. What once fed my ego now feels superficial. A past self must die so another may live. I am now the sword and shield for a life that didn’t ask to be here. As the world spirals, the fragile life I now protect means everything. He looks to me for who to become. What is good. What is evil. What to chase. What to let go. One day, he’ll step into the chaos alone, and finally understand the weight I carried so he never had to.
Replies by this mask
- This hits hard for me. I was finally able to buy us our dream home. Could not have done this without art, and specifically, my early belief in Sam Spratt and his work. The main stage to my boy's childhood is now set, with an extra room for one more...
- I wrote ‘A past self must die so another may live’ in my observation, so I feel your conflict. But do we need to be unshakable as fathers? We’re just as vulnerable as our kids. Maybe embracing that raw, unpolished self is the real foundation they need.
- Strange how the decade we mean the most to our kids is the same decade society demands the most from us. The years we should be most present, we’re expected to grind the hardest. Why must the time they need us most be the time we’re forced to be away?
Revision
I hope that day is far. I fear I won’t know how to return to who I was. He’s a part of me I’ll never be ready to live without.