Masks

He wears a 2,000 Armani suit, owns 20 pairs of the most expensive shoes and works out every day for 2 hours with a body that women can’t resist.  They stare, becoming mesmerized, by his exterior physique.  At 36, he has 2 beautiful cars; a Maserati and a Porche and lives in a 16,000 square foot mansion.  For the last 5 years he has followed his father’s advice; “Chase after money and women will chase after you.”  He has spent countless hours of hard work building a successful business and has been with a beautiful woman after woman.  All his friends envy him because externally he has the perfect life, living every man’s dream day in day out.

He wears his pants down past his ass, a clean pair of Jordan’s (not hard to do when you own every pair of Jordan’s ever made), all his kicks are over $100, with a thick gold chain around his neck, platinum watch and a jewellery box filled with rings; worth well over $100,000.  The most feared brother on his block, with all of the street credit, the look, along with a brand new 2015 BMW and a new girl in the passenger side weekly.  The idol to every kid on the street; their eyes light up thinking what it would be like to be him and have that life, king of the streets.

REALITY CHECK.  These two men, both from different cultures and backgrounds; are living their lives in disguises.  Both pressured to keep up their appearances to please their friends, family and society.  On paper, they both have accumulated “wealth”, “power” and as society perceives it, “respect”.  What we don’t see is that they wear two different masks; both carry around a broken spirit, hearts filled with pain and the pressure of what the world thinks a man should be, both motivated by that negative voice in their head saying “you’re not worth it.”  Fear of failure motivates but has built up years of fake appearances, survival methods and a heart, filled with pain and buried emotions.    

Every day has an agenda of things they must do to keep up their disguises and earn their money that has given them their identity.  Every night, filled with restless sleep, if any; crying when they are alone because they’re confused as to why their hearts feel heavy and they hate that they can’t show who they truly are to anyone but themselves.   They both have come to the realization that their entire life they’ve been discouraged from being their authentic self because of the shame associated with a man sharing how he really feels.  They may feel like they have nowhere to turn and no one to listen to them.

Society has set unrealistic and unachievable standards for men to try and live up too.  It is in trying to achieve these standards that men are slowly killing themselves.  We have to get past this outdated idea of what it means to “be a man,” so that will stop try to prove who they “really are” to others and to themselves.  Giving men the freedom to be their true self or at least begin to find out who that is. 

KEEP THIS IN YOUR HEART – INSPIRATION

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.  Give him a mask and he’ll tell you the truth.” – Oscar Wilde

“Having perfected our disguise, we spend our entire lives searching for someone we don’t fool.” – Robert Brault