Different Faces
"There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -"The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot
I've always loved that quote. A professor of mine in college offered it as a definition
of persona. It resonated with me immediately.
I have many different "faces," as I'm sure many of us do. And those faces morph
and shift depending on the social group I'm with. This doesn't make me superficial or
lacking in character (in my opinion). It makes me human. Humans have an innate social
need to be accepted. A fundamental desire to fit in. There is only one place where I let
a lot of my "faces" slip, and it's oddly enough in the very place you'd expect
it to be most prevalent: in my role as Elizabeth.
My name isn't Elizabeth. Hayley's name isn't Hayley. But those personas are the truest we
have. What we post, what we claim, and how we interact with people are the most
authentic when we are using our pseudonyms because weirdly, we have the most anonymity
then. But this is a crazy concept. How are we the most real when we're the most
anonymous?
The answer's simple: the women behind the curtain have no constraints because we still
get to have the luxury of going out into the world, meet the faces that we meet, and do
so without the judgment we'd surely receive if we spent 24/7 being Elizabeth and Hayley.
Because let's face it-those bitches are nuts.
So why the hell am I writing this? I had no idea when I started really. But as I type,
I find that I have an overwhelming need to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to be
the most ourselves with you. Thank you for letting us drop the mask, and meet you all
"face-to-face." Thank you for allowing us to turn "there will be
time" into this IS our time. Thank you for knowing us, and liking us anyway.
