Masks and walls
2006.05.17A good friend of mine introduced me to this poem. I won’t post it here since it is quite long. The link I provided should suffice. After reading it, I felt like I was looking at myself in the mirror — only in this case, I was seeing myself through words. I was so enthralled by the poem that I have imposed on myself to memorize it by heart. Yeah, I know it sounds queer so kick me.
All of us are much too familiar with situations wherein we must build invisible walls around us. All of us are guilty of wearing a myriad of masks every single day — masks that hide who we truly are. So why do we go through all the trouble of wearing masks and building invisible walls? Maybe we put up these walls so that we could get some attention, to act as some kind of bait. Then we wait for someone to come along, someone who will not merely look AT the wall but take time to scale it and look OVER to see what really is inside. Some boneheaded theory I came up with but that’s pretty much the best I can do to make some sense out of my thoughts right now.
Perhaps the most probable reason why these personal masks and walls exist is because of the fear of rejection — the nagging thought that by showing our true self we are openly inviting pain into our life. Being human is not easy maybe that’s why some tend to be inhuman and/or indifferent. Yeah, whatever! I’ll stop here since I’m already blabbering nonsense. And I have to go and try memorizing the poem.
I like this poem. We were given a copy to read during one of the retreats I attended. I guess being vulnerable is what we try to avoid, that’s why we ‘wears masks and build walls’. Thanks for posting this, I kinda miss this poem… and welcome back from your long blog vacation. =)
Comment by carey — 2006.05.18 @ 13:13
So sad but true…
Comment by Mae — 2006.05.18 @ 13:17
the poem pretty much tells everything what we are doing right now…in some ways we are wearing a mask..
Comment by governor nathan — 2006.05.18 @ 17:49
So I’m guessing the face in your header is your mask? :-)
Comment by snglguy — 2006.05.18 @ 20:56
@carey: Yup. Being vulnerable is something most of us do not want to be. For different reasons of course.
@Mae: The truth is almost always sad. :)
@governor nathan: It cannot be helped. We have to wear some kind of mask everyday. :)
@snglguy: Yeah, the header pretty much depicts one of my many masks. :)
Comment by Ric — 2006.05.19 @ 7:41
We all wear a mask sometimes in our life. We wear it to settle or just to belong. Sometimes, it’s just out of fear for nrejection, or sometimes because of lack of self- steem to be different. Whatever is the reason each of us had or have, we all do it.
Comment by Rey — 2006.05.19 @ 16:54
did you memorize it already? heh =) “never wear your outside with somebody else’s inside” but human as we are we yield to what we think could shield us. people can never be great pretenders. only good.. good as the chameleons in the outfield.
Comment by dora — 2006.05.19 @ 23:11
as for me, i wear a mask because i’m really really Fugly. =)
Comment by bleepster — 2006.05.21 @ 15:40
@ Rey: Yeah, we need to wear masks in order to deal with life, I guess.
@ dora: Nope, I haven’t found time to memorize it yet. I agree, people can never be great pretenders. Sooner or later, the mask(s) we have get figured out by someone.
@ bleepster: Fugly eh? Then I should start wearing a physical mask too. Hehehe!
Comment by Ric — 2006.05.22 @ 8:19
Masks and walls, eh? Very complicated subject, because the real us that we want to present to the world does not come automatic. We consciously think about it. Is it really a matter of wearing masks, or is it a matter of wearing clothes. It’s not as simple as black and white. For example, if one day I decided to become a vegetarian I make a conscious effort not to eat meat. The real humans can eat anything cooked, even some uncook food. But if I want to be labelled as vegetarian, I restrain myself not to eat meat. Is it wearing mask then? Or is it more wearing clothes? How we want to present ourselves to the world. The distinction between pretention and conviction is so subtle. It’s hard to say which is which.
If we can’t take the mask off, is it still a mask?
Hehe… Kutaw utok… :)
I’m not saying of course that pretention doesn’t exist in this world. But it’s so hard to detect that the sweeping generalization that “all of us are guilty of wearing a myriad of masks every single day” is born out of paranoia (in my opinion lang ha). I think we wear myriad of “clothes” every single day, and from time to time we wear a “mask” to guard ourselves against the people we barely know (it’s okay to do this I think), and sometimes to get what we want, money perhaps, favor from someone, someone’s heart (this is not okay at all). Hehe…
Okay kaayo ni imong mga blog entries bai. Maka-comment ko ug blog-entry-length nga comment. :)
Comment by carlmans — 2006.05.22 @ 18:59
Hehe… In my previous comment, “this” (singular) in “this is not okay at all” should have been “these” plural. Nag enumerate ko ug 3 examples ‘nya singular ang gigamit. Hehe… Di pwede na. Hehe… Trivial detail pero nakita man nako pag basa so i-mention nalang pud nako ang correction. :)
Comment by carlmans — 2006.05.22 @ 19:03
Very true and that’s the very reason why we cling to our manifest personality when there’s really no need to. Transparency they say is the mark of a confident person. We often hear the word “down to earth” guy which means that you would likely see this guy do and mean what he says.
Comment by bw — 2006.05.23 @ 6:06
@ carlmans: Thanks for those insightful words. Grabe ka kutaw bai! Hehehe.
@ bw: How right! Hehehe!
Comment by Ric — 2006.05.23 @ 7:56