The Mask Wearers

Delasi K Anyah

The Mask Wearers

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Introduction

They are all around us; we see them everyday, and we spoke to some

of them today. They are also the people we ignore, the ones we look

down on, the people we bully, the ones whose hearts we break; the

people we disrespect. They are the mask wearers, and till we

understand them and/or ourselves, this deadly plague of hatred that' s

enveloping our planet, is only going to keep transforming us into hate-

filled creatures in pursuit of illusions of love: illusions that leave us

empty.

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It' s funny how one word can get us into so much trouble.

One word: love. Without it, we do the dumbest things to find it.

Let' s hear what the ladies man has to say...

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The "Ladies man" mask

I wear this mask whenever I am around my friends. Whenever I have

it on, I am perceived as the epitome of a ladies man (you know, the

guy who has got all the girls, the biggest threat to many guys, the

girlfriend snatcher.. .Yep that guy.)

When I take it off however, I am just me—a normal guy looking for

real love and struggling with a tall glass of addictions. I obviously can't

say this when I am around the boys so like you, I take it off only

when no one is around.

I am a man, and being a man I am not allowed to whine about or cry

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over my problems. I'm told that' s what the soft guys do—wimps.

The man you saw last week at the local bar, sitting all alone behind

eight empty bottles, was the real me—I had taken my mask off. That' s

what I do to drown my pain besides wearing my mask and acting like I

enjoy falling into temptation.

As you can tell, I am a man, and like you, I have feelings. I also have a

couple of regrets; like you, I keep asking myself why I keep falling and

committing the same old sins; like you, I wish I had the power to

control myself. Like you, I wish I didn't have to lie about how I truly

felt sometimes, or to drown my pain by doing the same old things that

always leave me hurt and empty. Like you I wish I could erase all the

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pain from my life. Like you, I find it hard to tell people the truth...no

one besides the man I see in the mirror, knows who I am and how I

truly feel.

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It' s sad to say, many guys wear the "ladies man" mask. They wear it

because they want to be accepted by others guys: to be the alpha male

amongst their pack of friends, or wherever they find themselves. We

see them everyday, but nobody knows what goes on behind the scenes.

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Behind the scenes

Nobody knows what goes on behind the scenes. Nobody hears the

shouting, nobody hears you screaming, nobody knows your pillow

was soaked with tears last night, nobody knows what goes on behind

the scenes. All they see is the side of you that says I am rich, happy

and without problems. They don't know you, or how you feel every

day. They don't know about your pain and the things you go through.

You are not even sure if anybody cares about you, but the truth is

people do, and God does. But nobody can help you unless you are

willing to take your mask off, never to put it on again...

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How did I get here?

"How did I get here?" Have you ever asked yourself this question?

Like a person driving on a road to nowhere, we, at some point in our

lives, ask ourselves this perturbing question. For years I got what

seemed like an answer: an answer that only reminded me of how

gullible I was as a teen.

For years I thought I started watching porn because a friend said it was

all a part of life. But I was wrong. It took a lot of hate-filled

experiences to turn me into the addict I became.

Only the people who feel like the biggest losers, do things that leave

them empty in the hope of gaining acceptance from other people.

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They feel like losers because others made them feel like the ugly

duckling. Harsh words and devilish quotes transformed me. My only

way of escape—I thought, was to become someone I was not: to

indulge in pleasures that made me feel dirty every time I came back to

my senses. I wore a mask that made some people perceive me as a porn

trafficker and lover, a mask that said I could have any girl I wanted, a

mask I couldn't take off in public because I was paranoid about

receiving the same harsh words that transformed me: harsh words like

"you are a dull boy."

With an aching heart and a made up mind, I threw my mask off and

went on a journey to find real love and freedom. I was tired of

pretending I loved doing the things that destroyed me. I was tired of

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looking at hot girls and acting like I wanted to get laid, while in actual

sense I wished I had the power to resist the temptation and the sensual

thoughts that evaded my mind.

My wish turned into a reality when I met Jesus. I never thought I

could be myself: to be free and accepted by a force greater that any

form of hatred. I took my mask off not because I wanted to be some

Christian boy. No! I took my mask off because like many people, I

was tired of being a slave to the devil.

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Mask Wearers

We wear masks to look different; to be accepted by people who wear

prettier masks. On the outside we look pretty, but on the inside, our

ugliness totally contrasts our external illusional beauty.

We find it hard to take off our masks because, we are paranoid about

losing our acceptance amongst other “mask wearers.”

Deep within, we yearn to talk to someone who will love the real us

unconditionally. Someone who would appreciate us for who we really

are. We are the “mask wearers” and we yearn to be loved.

The End