My WASP MASK
photo US Geological Survey’s
fantastic Macro photos of insects and
butterflies…awesome.
=======================================
.
.
How many masks
can one wear ?
More than enough
to fool many of the people.
.
One for work.
one for home…
friends who only see
you away from work,
wonder where the “other me” is
that others see behind
a mask.
.
My children
both see a different MuM,
just like my brother
and I…
we both seem to be
only children,
not recognizing the truth
of the home
and parents
we grew up with.
.
My parents masks
are puzzling now…
I wish I’d seen
and got to know
the “real” people
behind their
parent masks.
.
The mask
for family far away..
.
The mask my parents saw,
I don’t recognize at all.
Perceptions and wishful think
for a child that didn’t
exist in me…
make a mask
that is curious to me…
but
made sense to them.
.
Am I organized or not.
Commanding presence
of a leader,
or mousy
and a follower bee.
Worker bee
or Queen bee…
hmmm.
.
Self confident
or agoraphobic …
the second is a mask
that is getting a grip
that needs to be loosened.
Quiet soft spoken
or loud and boisterous
….happy
or sad and depressed.
.
City mouse
or country mouse.
Only the Shadow knows
which mask I wear today
and why
.
.
.
You are among toads
“Think as I think,” said a man,
“or you are abominably wicked;
you are a toad.”
And after I thought of it,
I said, “I will, then, be a toad.”
~ Stephen Crane
siggiofmaine 
margaret
I found the reflection on your parents quite interesting. I think families are a bit more informal today – feelings are understood and shared a bit more. At least I hope so. I really liked “Perceptions and wishful think
for a child that didn’t
exist in me…”. Just wow!
siggiofmaine
Margaret,
Thank you for your comments.
I appreciate your visit.
My perception on parents today is that many share too much information and the discipline that many experienced up to the sixties,
maybe seventies, is lacking. My parenting style in retrospect left a lot to be desired.
I’m not sure about my generation that started parenting in the sixties, but I think sharing started going overboard even then in some cases.
Many of my friends are in my age bracket, … born in the mid forties, not boomers,but war babies.
I find a real mix of parenting styling and sharing from my growing up in the mid-west to the families here on the Downeast Coast of Maine.
Peace,
Siggi
margaret
I am fairly strict … yet I do open up a bit as they get older, share my thoughts (not all my experiences though 🙂 I hope I balance what they need – but they don’t need by “friendship” more than my mothering – as much as I think “friendship” would be easier. I have to be very tough at times, not let my feelings get hurt … ;P (I was born in the mid 60’s)
siggiofmaine
Margaret,
from the mid-sixties to 1975 and my divorce, I was a military wife (Navy Security Group husband) and I, in retrospect think that my early marriage at 20 shaped me totally different than if I had been “out loose” for a few more years. That being said, I feel that I was a fair mother, a strict mother ( a daughter 42 and a son 46) … consistent and not wishy washy with what I expected. I am not friends with my children, but I am more open to sharing if they ask “why” I feel a certain way.
My daughter, is more open with me than I ever would have been with my mother…. there was always the danger of my being disowned … which I eventually was because I would not “forbid” my 30 year old daughter to marry her fiancé’ … It is a long story which I have spoken of before…and will again. I would answer questions if you have them…
Thank you for your comments
Peace
Siggi
Madison Woods
Loved this poem. I think the key is knowing we wear a mask at all. So many are unaware and yet, they don the masks as well.
Sumana Roy
the problem is we can’t help wearing masks……nicely written
siggiofmaine
Madison,
I had an epiphany about 35 years ago… I had put my children ages 7 and 11 on a small plane at the Bar Harbor airport with a transfer in Boston to
Minneapolis. When I got to work, one of the staff members asked how I was and I said “Okay” and she said, “I had to ask. You seem ‘normal’ but a friend at the airport called me and said you were so upset at the airport that she wanted to be sure you got back to work okay”. The comment has had me thinking and observing people til now … and beyond
I agree about so many people are unaware of masks they or others wear. My nursing specialty was working with people with conditions that caused a change in personality, mental health conditions, and of course strokes, dementia, Alzheimers and brain tumors. When the staff or myself would comment on a family member’s humor, or some trait that the family didn’t see, we realized that we sometimes got to see a part of our residents that close family and friends didn’t see. Thank you for your comment.
Peace
Siggi
siggiofmaine
Sumana Roy
I thank you for your comment. And I understand what you wrote, but taking it a bit further, my perception is that it is not a problem most
of the time that we wear masks. I think of it as survival techniques many times…. subconscious, but necessary at times. I also think
so people are adept at taking a deep breath and doing what is needed to get thru a situation like a speech, meeting someone, a job interview, etc.
I appreciate you stopping to write the comment.
Peace
Siggi
deanabo
Very good. I just realized how many different masks that I wear.
Heaven (@ScarletVerses)
We all wear different masks for every situation ~ I think it depends if the situation warrants it ~ However at the end of the day, I think it’s tiring to keep it up ~
Björn Rudberg (brudberg)
Indeed.. do we even know all the masks we are wearing? .. so complicated and even with families and close friends… the masks are maybe the real us…intrigueing questions.