As a preschool teacher, I have to dress up in a costume on Halloween. As a preschool teacher, I don’t wear a mask with my costume on Halloween. Why not? Because the little ones I teach would freak out if their teacher appeared as someone different! A mask would hide my familiar face, and preschoolers need to see a familiar face when they come to school. Not wearing a mask is fine with me; it’s hard to breathe or see with a mask on. Wearing a mask makes me all claustrophobic.
Masks can also give you a sense of freedom, however. I’ve always wanted to go to a masquerade ball. The movies always make it look so romantic. To dance with a partner who wears a mask, have him fall in love with you, and then he turns out to be the prince. *sigh*
A figurative mask can be also freeing. Take a mask like this blog, for instance. When I began it, I thought I was invisible behind my blog and my fake name. I could write whatever I wanted and no one would know it was me. I once wrote a post about someone who wasn’t playing nice. I told the story in my favor, of course. I was in the right and she was in the wrong.
This mask of mine, however, proved to be weak. Too many people knew that I wrote this blog. Terrified that this person would somehow stumble onto my blog, I deleted the post. As far as I know, she never read my words, but I became scared of hurting someone if I wrote my feelings publicly. Sometimes I write whole blog posts in my head but never write them down just for that reason. And that, my friends, can make my blog quite safe and boring when I hide my true opinions. That’s a mask of a different kind, isn’t it?
Masks are complicated, more complicated than they seem at first. Do you wear a mask?
Take a look at some of the great posts about masks that these wonderful bloggers have written!
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Definitely can so relate. My blog address is my full name and totally not masked there. Sometimes, I would love to write what I am thinking, but then afraid someone who knows me would read would get upset or hurt by it. A fine line, I suppose we walk but still have been there myself, too.
Janine Huldie recently posted…Finally Halloween 2014…
It is a fine line! And more and more people know my real name now, which I’ve kind of put out there because I want people to know that I’m the person behind my stories. That whole dilemma started last summer when we were working on MOAM!
Thank you for a another good post. I love how you tackled all the types of masks one would wear. I too have dreamed of going to a masquerade ball. *Sigh*
This Busy Life recently posted…Etsy Round-Up: Halloween Inspiration
I have made the mistake of writing about somebody once. He didn’t read it but somebody else did and passed it on to the somebody. It hurt me big time and I learnt a valuable lesson then. Write nice or not at all, there is no other way. At least not on a blog like the ones we have!
Mara recently posted…Stranger
I can totally relate to the false sense of freedom given by relative anonymity on the Internet. I remember in fact one day my high school German teacher came to me saying: “is your nickname ____?” (This was before I used my real name on my blog/diary). Turned otu that, though I didn’t use my own name, I used almost everyone else’s real names, and she foudn out through a Google search for her rather unusual name. I now don’t use names, even for my husband. People can look me up on Faceboook and then they’ll see who my husband is, but well.
Astrid recently posted…Childhood Fears
Very interesting about a mask compared to a blog. I don’t think many of my IRL friends read my blog but a few do on occasion so I try to always be aware of the stories I write. In fact, I have avoided a major issue I want to write about but I don’t want to take a chance that the person it involves might read that day. Like you, I write some posts in my head that will never be published!!!
Kim recently posted…Turning a Negative into a Positive
So interesting how wearing masks can be both suffocating and freeing. I’m the type who hates masks and saunas and anything else that makes me think I can’t breathe.
Yet, I always fantasize about being a mascot or something and just totally being free and fun in public.
Tamara recently posted…The Monster At The End Of This Post.
Great post. Masks are everywhere. Wish I had time this past week to think and write about this topic. It’s an intriguing one, for sure. Maybe I still will! My blog tends to be filled with my opinions and I’m afraid it may offend at times, but I suppose that’s a risk I’m willing to take. I figure people can read or not read. I try to stay away from stories that involve other people, though, unless it’s ok with them. That can get sticky.
Jenny recently posted…The Wife’s Story
Great post! I try to hide behind my blog under pretense of protecting my kids. Once something is said/written online it is there forever. Well, it is not hard to figure out my real name. Guess that backfired.
Sharon, The Mayor of Crazyville recently posted…Top Farming Myths According to this City Mom
Yes, it’s so true that online stuff stays online. I deleted the post from my blog, but it was still out there in my subscribers’ email, and in Google Reader.
Ginny Marie recently posted…Clash of the Couples is Here!