31 Days of Randomness- Personal Inspiration 4 – Masks and faces

In continuation of my 31 days of randomness – Day 4. Masks and faces.

As Halloween approaches I have 2 takes on this day of inspiration. They both relate to masks and faces.. a fitting tribute to halloween. The first though is about the masks and faces that we wear to fit in. In to what? Society, school, friendships, marriage, parenthood? What are we all trying to fit into? The 2nd is all about the costume.

My first inspiration revolves around removing the masks that hide me from who I really am. This requires an acceptance from myself for myself. I mostly have done this and have been told quite boldly at times that maybe I shouldn’t remove the entire mask.. ha.. It’s said in good fun and taken that way. It is true that sometimes partial masks are necessary. You can’t deny this fact. The expression, “Let it all hang out.” Should more often than not be used in complete moderation.

However, it is my opinion that the masks that hide exactly who we are by nature should be removed completely. Toss them to the curb and carry on smartly. As my younger sister used to say.. “Hold your head high sistah.. hold it high.”

Please Hear What I’m Not Saying

Jester mask Don’t be fooled by me.
Don’t be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
Masks that I’m afraid to take off
And none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that’s second nature with me,
but don’t be fooled,
for God’s sake don’t be fooled.
I give you the impression that I’m secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me,
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water’s calm and I’m in command
and that I need no one,
but don’t believe me.

My surface may be smooth but
my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don’t want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation,
my only hope, and I know it.
That is, if it is followed by acceptance,
If it is followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls
from the barriers that I so painstakingly erect.
It’s the only thing that will assure me
of what I can’t assure myself,
that I’m really worth something.
But I don’t tell you this. I don’t dare to. I’m afraid to.

mask I’m afraid you’ll think less of me,
that you’ll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I’m afraid that deep-down I’m nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a façade of assurance without
And a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of Masks,
And my life becomes a front.
I tell you everything that’s really nothing,
and nothing of what’s everything,
of what’s crying within me.
So when I’m going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I’m saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I’m not saying,
what I’d like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can’t say.

I don’t like hiding.
I don’t like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you’ve got to help me.
You’ve got to hold out your hand
even when that’s the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you’re kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings —
very small wings,
but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator–an honest-to-God creator —
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from the shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach me
the blinder I may strike back.
It’s irrational, but despite what the books may say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
gold mask Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

By Charles C. Finn

FOOTNOTE Taken from John W. Johnston website. To enjoy more Charles C. Finn poems, visit www.poetrybycharlescfinn.com

Now onto my 2nd inspiration. Inspired to dress up for halloween. Random costumes that I really, really liked with enough time to try to re-create one.

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This all started from a random site I found called thenester.com. Apparently there is a group of people who have committed to posting a topic a day for 31 days. 31 Dayers 2012

33. Pretty, Polished, Perfect.	34. Unleashing your creativity	35. The Ordinary Beautiful	36. {a routine} ordinary
37. Chantel @ BeautifulSong.com	38. Kayse Pratt	39. DIY or Buy?	40. Breastfeeding
41. Organizing Homelife	42. hoorayfortay	43. Five days…5 ways	44. The Frugal Homemaker
45. A Holiday-Ready Heart	46. edie@lifeingrace	47. Some Things Wong	48. Tiffany @ Mommy Goes Green