Behind the mask, IP

In all my years I’ve never met a single person who didn’t wear a mask. I’m not talking about those joke shop things or make up or anything like that. Every day, people wake up and before anything else comes the application of the mask. Before you even get to the bathroom mirror it’s firmly in place. Why? Maybe because you can’t bear to see what you really are; to see all your faults and frailties. Because you know if you do; then there will be a reflection of it in your eyes that others will see; a weakness that they will prey on; that will separate you from the pack and isolate you to the predators…

But it isn’t just about them is it? You all had dreams; an image of what you wanted to be or how you wanted to look. But as time progressed the realisation began to sink in that the image would never become reality. Why? Because we all dream and imagine in perfection. Every dream, every image is perfect to us in everyway. The problem is that in the real world there’s no such thing as perfection.

So now you’re faced with two choices; do you accept that perfection is unobtainable; face your frailties and adjust your life accordingly? That option requires immense strength of spirit; a strength that is sadly lacking in the world and reserved only for martyrs.

So your only other option is the mask. The mask of perfection; to at least make it appear that the unobtainable is obtainable.

And I wander the world looking at masks and seeing perfection everywhere. Only there’s one problem. Real perfection is sublime. It doesn’t just look perfect it’s perfect in every way. And that’s where you fall down.
What is it they say? “Actions speak louder than words”? You have the look down, you can talk the talk and if it was left there then what a perfect world. You can look kind, caring, loving, humble, wise, knowledgeable, astute. But you have to act that way as well! You can start out doing it but keeping it up all day every day. No one can, because if you could you would be perfect and wouldn’t need the mask.

Ah, I hear you say what about you then? Are you perfect? Or do you have the strength of martyrs? No. I don’t have that strength of spirit either; I’m no better than you… But I am different from you. You see I never mastered the art of the mask. I don’t wear one; never have. What you see when you look at me is what you get. And I have been isolated for it, I have been feared, hated and ridiculed. Believe me when I tell you that a lifetime of that will make you want, desperately, longingly to wear the mask and I have tried, oh how I have tried. But it never took. And one day a few years back I realised that I didn’t need the mask. I didn’t need to feel ashamed about what I was – I wasn’t a murder or a sex offender, I didn’t steal. I never harmed anyone that didn’t harm me first and even then I never went as far as I could, easily. I have shown tremendous self control, not out of any religious ‘turn the other cheek’ beliefs but because I knew that I could hurt, that I could… But I didn’t not because it was against the law or a sin but because I chose not to.
I don’t expect you, behind your masks to understand or accept me, I know you never will. But I will say this to you; think of it, if you will, as a challenge.

Tomorrow, when you open your eyes and wake, don’t simply slip behind that mask; go to the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror – the real you. Look closely and you might just see that the person behind the mask is actually far, far better than the mask. And if you don’t, well just climb back into bed, close your eyes and then open them again and rise once more to the application of the mask.