The masks i bare, like the clothes i wear

I try not to wear a mask for each person i know,  metaphorically speaking of course. It becomes very tiring changing into a new character every time i change the company that i keep. Yet we all do it to some degree. When you are at work you wear a mask to be more grown up. When we are with our siblings, we revert back to a time in our life that reminds us of who we use to be, and so we put on our family mask. Truly the masks we all wear in layers of ever changing spirit... they are no different than the clothes that we wear. They change by setting, or even by the change in our mood.

I've met some real mask wearers over the years. You know the type, a perfect answer for everyone they meet. They might tell you that they love something, and ten minutes later tell someone else that they hate the same thing they just raved about loving to you. These people wear so many masks and tell so many lies that they forget who they said what to. They tend to forget what mask they wear around you until 10 minutes into the conversation. They become masters of acting quickly underneath their masks. All the while trying to figure out which mask belongs with the person they are speaking with. So that each time you are around them the mask might change 20 times before the conversation is over. They aren't exactly bad people, these mask wearers, because like i said, we ALL do it. It is just that some of us only change our masks when we become nervous or truly want to hide from certain people in our life that make us uncomfortable. {like wearing a work mask around our boss to hide how immature we really are} These people are the exception, they aren't trying to hide from anyone in particular - no, they are trying to hide from every one they know because the real person beneath the mask is not a good person.

It would be nice if we could all just be ourselves at all hours of the day. There shouldn't be a need to change who we are just because we change the person we are talking to. But this is where life gets most interesting to those of us who can truly wear a single mask with just a few added features. To show everyone we meet our true colors, our true self, our true nature of being right from the start... this is something that i personally strive to become. To put away the few extra masks that i wear and just be me at all times, but perhaps with a few extra twists. Because life wouldn't be life without a little bit of give and take in who we are in our ability to act in any given situation. Just do not let the masks change who you really are deep down inside.

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.  ~André Berthiaume, Contretemps