In Disguise

There is a Greek song that goes roughly like this:

Tell your daddy

whenever he kisses you

not to wear his dark glasses

cause he shades your pretty eyes

and in their shade you look at people

We all wear masks

Whenever we put on glasses,shades and so on,we are putting on a facade,a disguise.We do not want people to recognise us for who we are,but for what we would like them to see,be it their hearts' desire or our wish.We hide behind masks to impress upon others an image of something different from what we really are.

It may be because of the ritual role of the action.We men and women have been reduced to the use of masks to avoid social ridicule when behaving out of (imposed)norms-see carnival times round the globe.And intimidation of the Other is there too.Disguises of the face and body-tattooing,piercing-are there to visually frighten or somehow impress the beholder.This.ceremonial often,masking achieves several functions--hides,impresses,creates false ideas.

The theatre is another story.A strictly male institution in ancienf Greece and Japan,the mask was used to imitate expressions of the face-men do not have the wealth of facial capabilities women can rightfully boast of.Actors-the word itself reveals the meaning:acting(behaving like,not being)-put them on to behave like Antigone or Lysistrata.They could not be them.And male masks had to be there too since one can't convince an audience otherwise.

Death masks there are too,to preserve the appearance of the deceased to eternity.Another illusion.Dust in the wind we are,memories in others after the mower visits,our looks idealised and only the mask,not the living pulsating person that we were,remaining to eternity.

Masks we employ in our daily lives.Can we teachers appear hungry,frustrated,angry in class?No.We therefore put on our make up of reticence or other and everyone is happy-or so we appear to be.Will a woman say no to the man who offered her the ring?The man will not like it ergo the fake orgasms.Will a husband(what a sexist word,by the way,truly barbaric,like woman:wife of man)tell his wife he desires another?Chances are he won't dare.And we get the forced smile-cry mask!

Even clothes are disguises.Our body appears more desirable within proper attire.Garments are.however,not us.They may be objects we like,they are not US.

Worst case scenario.

We get so used to wearing them that soon,without us realising,we keep them on all the time.Unable and afraid to be what we are,the facade is there upon our face and body day and night.And when our dreams betray us to ourselves-blessed be they-we explain them away as premonitions or symbols or whatsoever....