Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks – masks that I am afraid to take off; and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that is second nature to me; but don’t be fooled, for my sake, don’t be fooled. I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled within me as well as without; that confidence is my name and coolness my game, that the water is calm and I am in command; and that I need no one. But don’t believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask my ever-varying and ever concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no complacence. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, in aloneness. But I hide that. I don’t want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind – a nonchalant, sophisticated façade – to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only salvation, and I know it. That is, if it’s followed by acceptance; if it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison wall, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It’s the only thing that will assure me of what I can’t assure myself – that I am really something…
I am every man you meet.
I am every woman you meet.
I am every child you meet.
I am right in front of you.
Please…. Love me.
Author unknown
Decades ago, while reading Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley, this jumped out of the pages and screamed my name. In his book, Waitley prefaced the letter with this sentence: “The author is unknown to me, but the words could easily have been written by some inner voice that hides, unseen, in each of us, whispering of our fragile sensitivity and vulnerability to our imagined fears of rejection.” Over the years, I’ve presented this letter to almost all of my seminar and workshop attendees and have found it to be a powerful tool to create openness and understanding.