On Secret Identities

I have a secret identity. I guess if I'm putting it here in black and white it's not so secret.... My nieces and nephews know me as the Queen of Fun. If there's fun or adventure to be had, I'll likely find it and if possible, make it accessible to them. As secret identities go, I think being the Queen of Fun is a pretty good one.

A secret identity is a pretty common device in certain kinds of stories. Peter Parker seems like a nice guy - maybe a little wimpy - but in reality he's Spider Man. Clark Kent is the geeky newspaper guy who (it appears) wouldn't hurt a fly, but when there's a crisis, he's Super Man. But there are other's with secret identities too. Sinister ones. The Joker, for instance. Surely he doesn't walk around all the time in his clown make-up. It seems like he'd be easy to catch if that was the case.

George McDonald wrote a wonderful book called The Princess and Curdie where Curdie (the protagonist) is given a special ability: he's able to discern the secret identity of those he meets by shaking their hands. Curdie puts his hands into some flaming rose petals and his hands are made very sensitive. This is how he knows the good guys from the bad guys. If he shakes a hand and feels the talon of a bird of prey, for example, he knows not to trust that person.
It seems like that could be a handy thing - to know who you're dealing with, whether friend or foe.

I think we all have a secret identity. We can go off on our own and choose one. When we do, it's going to be something like what Curdie encountered. Even if we start off with good intentions, we'll end up as one of the bad guys. Or.. we could accept the one designed for us from the foundations of the world. The one known only to God. If we choose that way, we may not be aware of what our secret identity is until the end of the story, but when it's revealed we'll be glad we did. My God given secret identity is probably not "Queen of Fun", although I think it would be pretty darn cool if it was...