Which Mask Did You Put on Today?

We're all fake, at least some of the time.

For some of us, we become what others want us to become and we have no idea we're doing it.

Like a chameleon, we camouflage our personality to avoid attracting the type of attention that would kill us socially, personally, or emotionally.






Maybe it stems from some emotional need for social contact, to be liked or loved, or just to be part of a group and as anonymous as possible.  Maybe chameleons don't know what to be and so be whatever the environment requires.

Others willingly transform to their surroundings because they want to fit in.  Maybe they have no identity of their own, but that could be said of every child born into the human race.

These types perhaps want the attention and affection of others so much that they do whatever is required to get it.  People who endure abuse or have co-dependency issues ("stage five clingers," as I call them) fall into this group.

And then there are the rebels, those that rail and fight against conformity because they want to be themselves--or so it seems.  Fighting against "normal" isn't that radical: instead of going with it, you go against it; either way, it's reactionary to the environment and pressures therein.

No matter which route is taken, the social norms and expectations of other people dictate who we are and what we do.  Humans worry about a lot of things but mostly what every other human thinks about them.

When someone says "I don't care what anyone thinks", you know they're completely full of crap; they should just wear a t-shirt that says "tell me who I am".






Life is a masquerade ball.

Everyone has to wear something to come to the party.  Most of us get our costumes from our parents or whoever shaped our minds growing up.  To think we're not the product of our experiences is borderline retarded.  Fate wins people, deal with it.

Is there a point where, if you're aware that it's a costume party, you can begin to choose the mask?

If I know a certain person is a sports fanatic, and I enjoy their company, can I put on a fanatic mask and pretend to like sports?  Sure.  I think many people do.  How else do so many people like piles of crap like reality shows, soap operas, musicals, and what passes for pop music?

If all of life is a masquerade of some sort, it stands to reason there will be costumes and masks that are more comfortable.  Maybe it's just the ones we wear most often, or the ones the person we love most wants us to wear.

For whatever reasons, these disguises serve a purpose--be it satisfying a void in our emotional or mental state, or keeping us from feeling out of control.






Is there even a personality, mentality, or "natural" being that exists apart from a mask?

Is there a "real" you or "real" me?

How do we explain ourselves without using some sort of role?

Without the costume, what is the actor?

I think our nature is nothingness, and I think that's why we strive to be something, to wear something, to make us feel something and not nothing.

We are empty, void of meaning or purpose, unless we put on the role, wear the mask, and take the stage of life.

Can we exist without a role?