TAKING OFF THE MASK

There was a song called ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’ that came out in 1969 written by Peter Sarstedt, about a couple of young kids who grew up together in Naples but now the Woman travels among the glitterati and knows all the right people and says all the right things etc.

In 1972 Carly Simon wrote the song ‘You’re So Vain’ and still will not say who the person is that she was singing about. I usually think of them as a pair but ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart in 1978, would also work with either of the others.

When you think about the way we present ourselves in society, you realize that there is a language (THE LANGUAGE OF CLOTHES - by Alison Lurie) that we use to our advantage to send out a message about the identity we have (or want to convey) to others. Few of us would ever venture out without this ‘protective covering’. It helps us to offer up an image we want to send out and, at the same time, lets others interpret our attire, demeanor, class and colouration for themselves.

Without a word being said, we have already sent out a lot of messages about who we want to be and who we want to tell others we are.

What Sarstedt is asking his childhood friend however, is whether she remembers when she is alone (inside her head) where she came from, and who she really is/was. Carly Simon on the other hand, feels that the Man she is singing about would feel that anybody who knows him, would, of course be talking about him. She feels that he is so Vain that he thinks everything and everyone who knows him is focused on him. Stewart meanwhile is just a bit of a joke, a lame male trying to put out that he is the coolest.

Where you and I fit in among these people is something I will keep to myself and let you decide for yourself. Only you are there, at a time I call, 3 o’clock in the morning, looking inside yourself or at the mirror and seeing who you really are.

Without the Mask, it is a good sign when you still recognize yourself and not like Dorian Grey* have something showing you what you are hiding from the world.

I’ll always go for being part of the solution and that includes when things in my own life need to get better. Reality checks are good for the soul, provided we use them to improve ourselves.

*The Picture of Dorian Grey – short story by Oscar Wilde (1890/1891).