We are all marks.
We deny it. We say that we are thinking people, that, at the end of the day, we let our brain win and we know what is true and what is not. We tell ourselves, and each other, that we are completely in control of ourselves and that no one’s going to pull the wool over our eyes. Not today.
We are arrogant. We say that we are too smart for tricks, too mature for games. We construct existences based around the fact that we are the judge, and we will decide what we applaud.
But then we are taken by surprise. We are hurled into a situation we haven’t seen before. We witness events that we never thought possible. We are amazed. And in that amazement we lose our presuppositions, we let our guard down, we become vulnerable. We go from rational, clear thinking adults to awe-filled, wide-eyed children. We become marks.
When we are at our weakest we say “Give me something to cheer for.” I know this isn’t real. The events unfolding before my eyes are fiction, an act. These aren’t real. They are scripted and rehearsed, they are planned, and at the end of the day the players go home and live lives I’ve never seen. The events unfolding before my eyes aren’t an answer. But I’m looking for something to cheer for. I need something to believe in.
So, let me be a mark. Let me pour myself wholeheartedly into something, truth or fiction, that grabs me by the throat. Let me understand what it means to be a kid again. Give me the opportunity to lose myself entirely and, unknowingly and unwilling, rise to my feet and cheer. I want something to believe in.
Knowing how everything works, knowing the secrets, being rational, thinking things out, planning ahead, and knowing the end of the story before you open the book has its place. But that place isn’t now. I don’t want to find an answer. I don’t want to solve the riddle or find a way to win the game. I want to buy in. I want to buy in to this with everything I have. I want to give up, and in my brokeness, I want to cheer. I want to get wrapped up in the lights and music and atmosphere and truly believe.
We can be smart. Or we can be marks.
Let us all believe, let us all buy in. Let us never forget that we’re kids and that although everything around us may be wrong, it’s what’s keeping us alive.
God, I want to believe in this. Let me forget that it’s all an act.
