as the curtain parts

The recent antics of an acquaintance brought to mind one of my favourite passages from The Bible, as stated by the Apostle Paul in his 1st letter to the Corinthians:

"When I was a child, 
I spake as a child, 
I understood as a child, 
I thought as a child: 
but when I became a man, 
I put away childish things."

Of course, I reserve the right to take these childish things out to play with from time to time.  I just don't forget that I am a man, most of the time.

The rap on me when I was young was that I was too serious.  But to those I pulled out of harm's way, intervening (sometimes unwelcome) to the rescue, most have come around to respecting the role I have played.  For everyone who takes umbrage at a thought or a word or a deed I have committed or failed to enact, I can just say I have tried hard and there are people alive today to credit me with their lives, their safety, their sanity.

Have I failed, more oft than I would like to have?  Of course.  But I am only mortal, and despite my doctor's words that it will take kryptonite to kill me, I am far from infallible or indestructible.

But.  I am content I have done, on the whole, great and purposeful things.

Now, for Act III to begin.  The lights dim and the curtains part.