Masks

We all wear several masks in our lives. When I teach I am a different person than when I am at home. When I work in schools I try to put on a different face that when I am with friends. When I was in the Army I used to cuss a lot which is strange because four years before that when I was in high school I didn't even know any cuss words. I think the hardest thing in life is trying to find out which mask is the real us. Maybe the real person is a combination of those masks. We decide which mask to put on so that means that is the person we want to be.

I think life gets easier as you get older because those masks we put on start to blend into the total person we want to be. The higher up on the corporate ladder then less people you have to impress so the less masks you must wear. After you get married you have one or more less masks you must wear because you reached that goal. Part of maturing is realizing which masks to wear and which ones to discard. I guess that is why I haven't matured yet. I still try to impress different people. I hide my real feelings often from different people. I hide from different people that wonder why I am different than when I was their teacher.

I am learning not to wear so many masks in my life. I hate keeping secrets and have never liked keeping things inside me. I think the best policy is to not keep so much inside you and then you don't have to wear so many masks. I think it is easier for us here in America than in other countries because we don't expect people to fit in the stereotypes as in other countries. I am happy we have progressed as a society so much that we are not required to act a certain way. I think society matures also and less masks are required as societies mature.