He Says – The Masks We Wear

Hi Folks:

When Marcia suggested the topic for this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ blog post, the first thing that came to mind was Billy Joel’s song ‘The Stranger‘:

“Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They’re the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it, why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself

Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself

You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn’t always evil
And he is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You’ll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.”

The next thing that came to mind was a story I wrote a few years ago called ‘The Way‘.  It was inspired by a poem a friend sent my way, but in many ways it recounts my journey away from the masks I used to wear.  You see, for many years I was a chameleon of sorts.  Not in a bad way, but I was intelligent enough to be able to represent myself as what people wanted or needed me to be in that moment, and with a good enough memory to be able to keep all those roles sorted out.  I felt that in this way I was best able to help others while at the same time keeping myself – my true self – hidden from the world at large.  Actually, back in 1995 I wrote a poem on this called ‘Seeing Me‘.  The biggest mask I wore, the one closest to my skin, was really to hide me from my self because I was pretty well convinced that I if I did start looking inside I wouldn’t like what I found.

Well, I did start looking, and I was right in that I didn’t like a lot of what I found.  At the same time it was cathartic and eventually healing.  Once I get started on something I’m generally too stubborn to know when to quit, and it started me on a leg of my journey that continues to this day.

Do I still wear masks?  On occasion I do…  mostly I simply remove those masks that people want me to wear, preferring to be ‘Me’ instead.  I’m pretty adept at seeing through others’ masks as well, but I don’t usually let on that I do.  After all, those who wear them do so for their own reasons.  When they’re ready to remove them, they will.

Love,
Mike.

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Follow this link to read Marcia’s View.