"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be" - Kurt Vonnegut
Have you ever felt that there is a discrepancy between who you know you are and who people think you are? Deep inside you know you are not like that. We start every day by putting on a mask of invincibility and success. This is what gets us through the day alive and in one piece both physically and emotionally. But if we wear the mask at all times, if everyone knows us as the person in the mask, doesn't it become the real you? Have you ever tried convincing someone that you are not like that? Not who they think you are? It's almost impossible, it takes years, sometimes even a lifetime. A reputation develops by the specified individual themselves, actions lead to reactions. The better the actions of the person are, the better the reputation; thus allowing the "mask" to become the real image emulated from the person. Kurt Vonnegut's quote relates greatly to the modern 21st century teenager. Teenagers are the most susceptible to victims of a bad reputation; rumors and lies are spread all the time. It is more beneficial for for a teenager to not pretend to be something they are not, all secrets come out eventually.
I liked your post Tony! I comlpetely agree with the terms of teenagers putting on a mask just to function in the most judgemental place called high school. It reminss me of the movie Mean Girls and how the protagonist character Cady put on a superficial mask to act like the plastics when in the end her personality resulted in her acting just like one of the plastics. I believe in acting just the way you are and if someone has a problem with that oh well...
ReplyDeleteYour post is interesting. I never thought about the mask that people put on when they are around their peers. At home and out in the real world people do change. So why isn’t it ok for people to show their true colors all the time?
ReplyDeleteTony is the OBVI Tony not the true Tony I know, just kidding. It's true that people have different ways they act according to the people they are around. This makes me wonder if majority of people we know don't show their true selves to us,hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteYour quote definitely rings true that sometimes we can even trick ourselves into believing we are someone we aren’t. I personally believe though that a way to avoid all the horrible consequences of being shamefully exposed from under the mask is to live without the mask in the first place. Showing people your true colors ensures that you don’t have to fabricate a perfect person to pretend to be.
ReplyDeleteYour quote was a great one to write about. I like how you explain your point through rhetoric questions. I agree with someone's reputation taking over who they really are. When something is said over and over again, it exventually masks the truth. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post :) I know this is true through personal experience. You portray yourself to be a certain way and when people make assumptions off of this reputation that you have created, it is hard to convince this person that what they are assuming is wrong. We can attempt to convince this person all we want that we are not the person that they think we are but actions speak louder than words. If you don't want to be seen as a bad person don't portray yourself to be one. We must remember to be ourselves because in the end, we want people to be able to see the real us.
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