Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?

For those of you old enough to remember or who have seen some of the re-re-runs, of the TV Show, The Lone Ranger, always at the end, one person will turn to the other and ask, “Who was that masked man, anway?” And someone else will answer, “Why, that was the Lone Ranger!” The picture will then cut to Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels (the Lone Ranger and Tonto) and with a haunting, “Hi-yo Silver, Awa-a-a-ay!” they’ll go riding off into the sunset.

Sometimes people will tell me I look like so and so. Or, I see someone in a crowd and wonder if it’s somebody I know because they sure look familiar. Eyesight, hindsight, memories; they often sort of get scrambled, don’t they? My most memorable case of mistaken identity occurred many years ago, probably like thirty-five or forty years ago. Someone came to my front door selling something. Well! She looked so much like my mother’s old friend, a person I hadn’t seen for quite some time, and I opened the door, hugged her and said, “Hi there! What are you doing here, anyway?”

Needless to say, she was shocked and I was embarrassed. I can probably guarantee that was the warmest reception from a complete stranger she had ever gotten.

Yesterday, I got groceries at a local store. After I had loaded the sacks into my car and was driving out of the parking lot, I saw another couple, a man and his wife, pushing their cart to their car. For some reason, I smiled and waved. I had never seen them before in my life. Well, they looked at me, smiled and waved too. Perfect strangers, but for one brief moment, we were friends. Funny, isn’t it, the memories we make, the people we remember, the people we forget, and the people we mistake for someone else. But, you know, we can all use more friendly smiles and waves and well-wishes.

Hopefully, today, all the strangers you encounter will be neighborly. A person doesn’t have to be a neighbor to be neighborly. And, hopefully, they won’t be wearing a mask because I think there was only one Lone Ranger. But, after a friendly smile or a wave, maybe someone will turn to someone else and ask, “Who was that extremely friendly stranger anyway?” And you can ride off into the sunset with a smile on your face.