Masks and Human Nature

A mask.

How delicate is a mask?

Made of paper or steel

The choice is yours

Paper is weak

It is almost translucent

Yet it is light

It can be kept up and together

With very little effort

Steel is strong

It is thick and impenetrable

But it is heavy

It requires strength and courage

And a lot of effort

But what happens when the mask comes down?

What happens when the wall collapses?

What happens when you are overwhelmed?

The mask takes a lot of energy

Sometimes we give up

Sometimes we lose hope

We forget what we’ve been fighting for

We lose empathy

We forget that we are wanted

We forget that we are needed

We forget that we are

Loved.

It’s hard to convince yourself of that

Once the walls fall

We think we are not worth it

That we are a waste of space, time, and energy

We think that people are better off without us

We are failures.

Mistakes.

Beyond saving.

We look in the mirror and say

“You.”

“Yes, you.”

“You failed.”

“You are a mistake.”

“You’re not worth it”

“You don’t deserve this life.”

“You don’t deserve to live at all.”

“What right do you have to even breathe?”

“After all that you’ve done…”

“After hurting all those people…”

“After trying so hard only to be back where you started…”

“…”

“……”

“………”

“Wouldn’t it be better if…”

“…”

“Wouldn’t everyone be better off if…”

“…if…”

“…you were…”

“…dead?”

The truth is

Death is the coward’s way out

It is chosen because we do not want to face the consequences of our errors

We would rather give up

We don’t want to keep fighting

But it is our duty to keep fighting

Life isn’t easy

Everyone says this, but it’s true

It took effort to bring you into this world

It can take seconds to bring you out

Isn’t that ideal…

…for a coward?

Everyone has demons

Shadows

Things we hide in the dark

Skeletons in our closets

Secrets.

Dark, dangerous secrets

Secrets that cannot be leaked

Secrets that our minds hide from our souls

Secrets such as these

Are kept behind our masks

Tight behind knotted rope

Squeezed and compressed

To the point where they are unrecognizable

So that when we choose to let them out

They twist themselves beyond repair

Sometimes, however

Our mask is our lifeline

The fabric is tied as tight as possible

To keep all the broken pieces of ourselves

Together

To make the shattered shards

Look whole

We don’t want others to worry

We don’t want them to know

They can’t know

If they find out

They won’t want us

So we pull the strings tighter each day

While our souls

Our hearts

And our bodies

Crack more and more

Until we are nothing but dust on the inside

Until we are beyond repair

Until we lose all hope

But still

We tell no one

We bear it alone

We think that it is for the best

But we simply bring our pain onto more people

We simply spread it like a plague of misery

And when we realize what we have done

We blame ourselves

We point the sword in the mirror

We scream

We yell

We sob

We beg

But we don’t fix anything

We tell ourselves that we are the problem

We convince ourselves that the problem must be removed for the common good

And after repeated shouting…

We begin to believe it.

That is an example of the dangers of our masks

Whether it be dark thoughts or secrets

Nothing can be kept safely

Nothing can be kept forever

Unless you live diligently

Unless your goal in life is to never let anyone see who you truly are

But a life like that is pointless, isn’t it?

Why do we live?

Why are we scared to die?

What are we living for?

Those very questions make goosebumps rise on your arms

Don’t lie

I know you are scared of those questions

If not scared, then you are in awe

They are simple words, really

But the answer is nothing but

We are alive because of our parents

That is the biological answer

But why was our soul assigned to this specific body?

This specific life?

That depends on what you believe

Your religion

We may not know why we are live

But we have been presented with the gift of life

And it would foolish to throw this gift away

Life goes on

If you make a mistake

Time will heal

But you know what time doesn’t heal?

Death.

I know this sounds depressing

But we all have masks on

We switch them around depending on who we’re talking to

We have different personas

Alter egos

Who are we, truly?

Deep within our souls

Who are we?

How would we act if there was no societal pressure?

No expectations

No judgement

I want you to think about that for a minute

When you’re talking to someone

Be it a friend, teacher, boss, colleague, family member

Whoever

Would you say what you’re saying right now

If there were no rules?

The answer is usually no

But if what you’re saying is coming from your soul

Like when you blurt out something without thinking

And the other person accepts you for it

Perhaps you have found your soulmate

They like you for who you truly are

Not because of the pretty mask you put on for them

If you find yourself forced to put on masks to please

You are wasting your time

The only people who matter in life are those who will accept you

No matter what

But there is a limit

At least, in our society

We all have dark, dirty, rebellious thoughts

Some simply have stronger masks than others

Some are braver

Some are shy

We must control our masks

We must act like prison guards

And keep our wild thoughts in chains

They can only be let out when we are alone

Or if we are with our soulmate

Soulmates are extremely hard to find

To say the least

There are billions upon billions of people

On our planet

To think

You must search through every single human being

To find the one

Many are unwilling

Many settle down with someone they simply like

They end up having to keep their masks on their whole lives

Isn’t it tiring?

Swapping masks for eternity?

But sadly, that is what many of our lives are reduced to

We are not human beings

We are entities with enough mental capacity to act in such a way

To make others like us

To be accepted

To feel like we “belong”

This false sense of belonging

This need to “belong” to a group of people

That is often what leads to people surrendering to their dark thoughts

Actions only turn to words behind closed doors, however

We are too ashamed to admit to others that we are choosing the coward’s way out

No one can know until after we die

Then nothing will matter anymore

No matter what they say

It will no longer affect us

No matter the consequences

Others will bear it

Not us.

Our close friends and family

Will carry the burden and pain

Not us.

We simply want to be free

And transfer the suffering to someone else

Anyone else

But us

And that, I believe, is what defines…

Human Nature