Unmask Me
“You’re still hiding in a mask, you take your fun seriously. No, don’t blow this year’s chance. Tomorrow your mold goes back on.” – Halloween, Dead Kennedys
In the opening of The Madman, Khalil Gibran thanks the thieves who stole his seven masks and revealed to him the sweet kiss of the sun for the first time. I, too, long to be madwoman and yearn to see the light of day, yet I sometimes hide in the darkness cast by my seven masks. By unveiling my masks, I offer them to the thieves in the night so that they may be stolen and I may be set free. They are:
1. The mask of my former selves
2. The mask of desires and that to which I think I aspire
3. The mask of my expectations for myself and others
4. The mask of fear of the unknown
5. The mask of shame and guilt
6. The mask of perfection and control
7. The maskless mask, or the illusion of not wearing a mask