THE GREAT MASQUE

July 16, 2018

Bill Blalock

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THE GREAT MASQUE

“Being yourself is one of the hardest things because it’s scary. You always wonder whether you’ll be accepted for who you really are. I decided to call my record ‘Inside Out’ because that’s my motto about life. I don’t think you ever succeed at trying to be anyone else but who you truly are.” … Emmy Rossum

Our culture is continually attracted to extremes. By that I mean, manner of dress, provocative behavior, outrageous comments and constantly exchanging words of endearment and compliment. Who are these people that exhibit these characteristics? They get our attention, but what does it say about the person?   They are masking. Or as an English term “masque” relating to the theatre in the 16th and 17th Century, described as amateur dramatic entertainment. Putting on a performance to not just entertain, but to hide the identity of the person entertaining with a mask!

Can you relate to what I am describing? For some of you, you are the one with the mask. Continually hiding who you really are to gain attention, to be included in a group and to feel appreciated. Persons like this tend to continually give each other accolades to further prop up their masking. They exhibit very low self-esteem.

Many times, they evolve into a group of individuals who participate in the masquerade until at some point it gets old and very tiring to keep up. Like trying to stay young when you are truly only growing older. We love our youth, fashion, beauty. But, where is true beauty? It is within. There is no sin in growing older and acting in a mature and responsible way. Try as you will, it will be difficult to remove the mask. But, I assure you, once you have done that, you free yourself from the stress of trying to keep up and pretending to be a person that is a shadow of your true self.