I would like to bring something to the consideration of my dear Aunts and Uncles.
People like to wear masks.
Not just for Halloween or some sort of fancy dress sort of thing. No, people like to put up a front of sorts. A created personality. Kinda like your social networking profile, except this one stays on in person. You don't take it off really. The mask looks a lot like your actual face, but a bit distorted.
Masks basically do two obvious things. They conceal your identity, and they pass you off as something you want others to think you are.
When you're wearing your mask, which is always, you're hiding a bit of yourself, holding back, for whatever reason, and you're exaggerating some of your other features, whether in a more flattering way, or as an intentional caricature. This is fine, and healthy. Masks are fun to wear. And some parts of your real face you don't necessarily want to show everyone.
But since you're always wearing your mask, that's also what you see when you look in the mirror. You see yourself as you want others to see you.
Maybe then, you realize that you're still wearing your mask, as you look at yourself in the mirror, and you've forgotten what you look like. So, naturally, you start to take the mask off.
The problem with that is that there is another side of the mask. The side that no one ever thinks about. People only ever think about the outside of the mask, and the the face that it is concealing. And when you go to take off that mask, you look at the other side of the mask, and there are things written there. The things that are written there are insulting. Disheartening. Embarrassing. That whole time, silently speaking to you in the darkness.
It's why you put the mask on in the first place. You didn't want to have to read what was there, and you didn't want anyone else to read it either. The best way to do that is to hide it away where not even you could see it. But it was still there, facing you the whole time. And while you were facing it as well, you weren't really looking at it, you were looking past it.
But hey, you forgot that the mask is off and there's a mirror in front of you. Take a look. It's not all that bad. Yeah, it can be kinda bad sometimes, and maybe a rare time really bad, but there are some good things there too. The same things that are on the outside of the mask. That's why you put them on the front of the mask in the first place. And that's really what this is about anyway. You made the mask, so you're the one who wrote all that nasty shit on the inside.
Anyway, chuck out that mask and use that mirror to wash your face. It's kinda bad for your skin to be wearing an old grimy mask all the time.
Your favorite Nephew,
Twid
PS- I'm intending on turning this concept into a song, an illustration, or a short story of some sort. Maybe all three. Why not?
