Not a Brick in the Wall!

Our True Faces....

One of my favourite authors in Robert McCammon. He wrote some interesting stuff back in the late 70s, creepy thriller stuff, along the early Dean Koontz line. I was into that kind of reading back then (still am actually) so I think I had half a dozen or so of his efforts. One particular favourite remains among my paperback collection AND as an e-book. Swan Song. 

One of the earliest post-apocalyptic novels I know of, it's a long read and has kept me awake well into the night every time I've picked it up. I've found a lot of parallels with events in their world and the ones that have shaped my life. 

I know what it's like to hold a precious child in your arms one moment, and have them ripped from you while their fingers are deeply entangled around your heart.


I have gazed at unimaginable beauty after watching your world go up in flames.


I've looked deep into the soul of another person and knew I was home.


I have walked to the end of the earth, looking for something, someone, that kept calling my name. 


I've realized the hopelessness that is all too much a part of the human condition, and found a way back from it.

I believe in the power of God, and that He protects us all. And loves us unconditionally. Even when we fail him. And especially when we fail each other.


In McCammon's post-nuclear holocaust, characters are afflicted with a condition that causes a growth of skin and flesh to cover their head and face, over time. There is pain involved, some have more and some less. At various times, the growth cracks. And reveals the "new" person inside. With their "true face". Sometimes someone who was unattractive becomes a beauty. Sometimes old scars are healed, both physical and emotional. The heroine of the novel, Swan, is one of the last to be transformed. 

There comes a time when the "bad guy" is exposed as what he truly is: evil. Gory details describe how his "true face" is displayed for all to see. He's seen it in the mirror, even before the growth started and consumed his head. He denied it, but he was a monster. Underneath the military brass and polish, he was evil. 

I've seen it in our world. I know there are monsters.I've come face to face with them.

There are also angels. I thank God for revealing their "true faces". 

They walk among us.

They are us. .