Friday, April 06, 2007

The Faces of 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.

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.

Recently, I’ve been hearing a great deal about the masks that we all tend to wear. As a nomad, I have certainly been guilty of wearing masks over the years. With each new location I have lived in, I’ve had the opportunity to recreate myself, with the only condition being that I then needed to live up to the image I created for myself.

Like the song says, it isn’t always evil and it isn’t always wrong. The various masks I created allowed me to survive in a wide variety of challenging environments; I don’t think I could have made it to where I am today without these masks. But along the way, I’ve lost track of who I am.

Perhaps this is natural, to lose yourself in the masks you create for yourself. But as I have wandered along a path of self discovery recently, it has made it really tough to distinguish between my views and morals and what I’ve picked up along the way.
I try my hardest to be an honest man, 100% of the time. But am I truly honest with myself, when the true me is hidden beneath the person I had to become along the way?

As I find out more about myself, I move closer to being the happy, healthy person I’ve always dreamed of being. But as I peel the onion to discover the various layers that I am, I have been struck with the pain associated with each memory of my pas. The more masks I’ve put between the true me and today’s version, the harder the path has been.

I have no idea what tomorrow may bring, but I figure tomorrow has got to be better than today if I’m happier with who I am. So I’ll keep on my journey of self discovery, and hopefully one day I can live life without the masks, being truly honest with myself in every way possible.

Posted by Scottage at 1:11 AM / | |