Wearing Facades Makes Us Look Ugly, It’s Better Tearing Them Off

An Insightful Series of Life Lessons That My Life Provided As I Lived Understanding Its Psychology and Philosophy Improving My Mental Health in The Process.

Jun 18, 2026

LIFE LESSON STORIES SERIES

Every year there used to be a panel inspection in our school from education department. It was there to ascertain that the school complied with the minimum standards for the quality of imparting education. Its reports affected the financial grants given to the school from the government’s side.

I was 13 years old in class 8th then. The teachers told us the panel inspection was going to be there in a few days. And they started rehearsing for it like it was a drama to be staged in front of the panel. Everyone would wear a facade as their makeup to play their role well.

This drama got staged every year the same way. The classrooms were decorated with all kinds of teaching aids. These were the decorative teaching aids which otherwise lied rotting in some store of the school all through the year. The blackboards were beautifully inscribed with all details including the names of the subject and the chapter being taught. The teachers rehearsed every single dialogue they would be speaking while teaching the lesson and asking related questions to students. Also, the students chosen to answer those questions rehearsed every single answer they would give in front of the panel.

I had seen enough of this drama in the previous years in my junior classes. And it had hurt my aesthetic sensitivities every time I witnessed it being staged inside our classrooms. I always used to be one of the main characters of this drama. It was since I was supposed to be the brightest student in my class. Hence the onus of impressing the panel was mainly on me every year. This was as far as the quality of learning by the students was concerned.

A Conspiracy Inside My Mind

But that year for some unknown reason I dared to hatch a conspiracy inside my mind exposing all this facade. I wasn’t scared of its consequences. I might have to bear the wrath of my teachers. I might even be expelled from the school. But the accumulated hurt to my aesthetic sensitivities was so piercing that turned me oblivious to every such consequential probability.

I planned I would fake a kind of stupid-looking ignorance as and when the teachers asked me any questions. And it was I who was the main character of the answering team in this entire drama. I knew it would devastate the entire facade so meticulously planned to wear in front of the panel. But I couldn’t help it despite my deepest love for my school.

The Panel Arrives to Inspect The School’s Performance

On the scheduled date, the panel arrived to inspect the school’s performance in all its classes. As it came to our classroom, our drama started. Everything was going nicely as rehearsed until it came to me playing my role in the show.

The teacher asked me his first question and I kept looking at him with a blank face faking utter ignorance. He got a shock of his life. He immediately repeated his question, but my response remained the same.

“Don’t you know the answer?” he said in a queer voice.

“No sir,” I replied, faking stupidity on my face.

“But you know the answer!” he emphatically asserted.

“No sir, I don’t,” I again acted stupid.

“But I know you know the answer!” He insisted on his assertion.

“How, sir?” sounding stupid in my tone, I kicked the ball back to his court again.

“Because I made you rehearse it so well!” as he said this, he suddenly realized he had exposed himself.

He immediately held his tongue. “Sorry sir!” he spoke to the panel, “This boy has run berserk.”

“Did you really do that?” asked the head of the panel.

“What, sir?” the teacher fumbled as he asked this to the head.

“Rehearsal?” the head was looking straight into his eyes.

“No sir… yes sir… no sir…,” the teacher went absolutely disoriented.

The head started laughing aloud, “Don’t worry,” he said.

“He is the best student in the class sir,” the teacher took a sigh of relief. But his voice was still sounding embarrassed.

“I have already made it out. What I am confused about is why he has done what he is doing,” the head murmured to himself.

“Sorry sir!” said the teacher again.

“You can continue further with other students,” the head gave him another chance. For some strange reason he had decided to ignore what all I had done to spoil the show.

And the drama restarted with the rest of the script getting enacted as planned. The panel looked reasonably satisfied and took their notes in their assessment papers.

Before they left, the head said to the teacher, “Could you bring this boy to the principal’s office?”

“Yes sir, I will,” said the teacher as he looked at me.

My Teacher Takes Me to The Principal’s Office

After they left, my teacher took me to the principal’s office where I saw the entire panel sitting.

Looked like the report of what I had done had already reached the principal. He kept looking at me for a while. Then he said, “Didn’t you know the answer to the question your teacher asked?”

“I did,” I said.

“Then why didn’t you answer?” he hadn’t taken his eye off me yet.

“Because I found it ugly,” I said.

“What?”

“The entire panel inspection!” I was ready to be punished for what I was saying. I kept speaking “I have been finding it ugly ever since I have been a part of this drama. I don’t want to play my role anymore.”

A pin-drop silence enveloped the principal’s office. The principal hadn’t yet taken his eyes off my face.

Finally, he turned to the teacher and spoke, “I stand by him. He is not only the best student in his class, but also the best student in this entire school. He has shown us the mirror.”

Then he turned to the panel saying, “You gentlemen can give your report as you please. I have my approach to the top brass in the education department.”

“No, we don’t have any intentions to go against you,” the head of the panel immediately opened his cards.

“Thanks for your cooperation! But the next year onward you will assess our performance without any facade on its face,” the principal declared.

He turned back to me and said, “Sorry my child and thank you for what you did!”

As I was leaving his office, I heard him saying, “Wearing facades makes us look ugly, it’s better tearing them off.”

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