Today I am gonna share with you a meaningful passage that I came across when I was teaching Mandarin comprehension to my students. The version that I read is a translated one. I have found the original version in English. Trust me, it is worth reading. Do spend some time to think after reading ya.
THE MASK I WEAR
Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks-
masks that I'm afraid to take off
and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake, don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure
That all is sunny and unruffled with me
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name
and coolness my game,
that the water's calm
and I'm in command,
and that I need no one.
But don't believe me. Please!
My surface may be 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 this.
I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my
weaknesses
and fear exposing them.
That's why I frantically create my masks
to hide behind.
They're nonchalant, sophisticated facades
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,
and if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls
I dislike hiding, honestly
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing,
the superficial phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and me.
But I need your help, your hand to hold
Even though my masks would tell you otherwise
That glance from you is the only thing that assures me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this.
I don't dare.
I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh
and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing,
that I'm just no good
and you will see this and reject me.
So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a facade of assurance without,
And a trembling child within.
So begins the parade of masks,
The glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's nothing
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying
Please listen carefully and try to hear
what I'm not saying
Hear what I'd like to say
but what I can not say.
It will not be easy for you,
long felt inadequacies make my defenses strong.
The nearer you approach me
the blinder I may strike back.
Despite what books say of men, I am irrational;
I fight against the very thing that I cry out for.
you wonder who I am
you shouldn't
for I am everyman
and everywoman
who wears a mask.
Don't be fooled by me.
At least not by the face I wear.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks-
masks that I'm afraid to take off
and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake, don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure
That all is sunny and unruffled with me
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name
and coolness my game,
that the water's calm
and I'm in command,
and that I need no one.
But don't believe me. Please!
My surface may be 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 this.
I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my
weaknesses
and fear exposing them.
That's why I frantically create my masks
to hide behind.
They're nonchalant, sophisticated facades
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,
and if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls
I dislike hiding, honestly
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing,
the superficial phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and me.
But I need your help, your hand to hold
Even though my masks would tell you otherwise
That glance from you is the only thing that assures me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this.
I don't dare.
I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh
and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing,
that I'm just no good
and you will see this and reject me.
So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a facade of assurance without,
And a trembling child within.
So begins the parade of masks,
The glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's nothing
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying
Please listen carefully and try to hear
what I'm not saying
Hear what I'd like to say
but what I can not say.
It will not be easy for you,
long felt inadequacies make my defenses strong.
The nearer you approach me
the blinder I may strike back.
Despite what books say of men, I am irrational;
I fight against the very thing that I cry out for.
you wonder who I am
you shouldn't
for I am everyman
and everywoman
who wears a mask.
Don't be fooled by me.
At least not by the face I wear.
中文版
“不要被我欺骗，不要误以为我戴的面具就是我。我戴着几千个面具，而且害怕摘掉它们。我最擅长的事情就是假装自己在做什么，仿佛万事如意，仿佛满怀信心。我最喜欢的游戏就是让自己看起来像个沉着冷静且信心满满的时髦人士。不过，请不要被我欺骗。背后才是真正的我——彷徨、惊诧，而且孤独。我很清楚自己什么也不是。不过这些都被我藏了起来。这是没有人知道的秘密。我害怕暴露自己的缺点。这个不能明说。我怎能告诉你呢。”
“我很恐惧。我害怕你不会接纳我，害怕你不爱我。我害怕你会忽视我、嘲笑我。我害怕被人发现，并且因此遭人拒绝。尽管我戴着信心百倍的面具，玩着视死如归的游戏，然而在心里我还是个战战兢兢的小孩子。”
“对于不重要的事情，我什么都说；对于真正重要的事情，我什么都不说。这个时候，千万不要被我的话语欺骗。听完我的话后，请听一听我不说的事、我想说的事、我应该说而不能说的事。“
“我不愿藏在面具之后。我讨厌自己正在玩的游戏。我想成为纯粹的、自由的、真正的我。不过，你必须帮助我。哪怕我表面看来很不情愿，你也要向我伸出手来。因为只有你能为我摘下和扔掉面具。当你亲切而温柔地鼓励我的时候，当你愿意聆听并鼓励我的时候，我就能够摘下和扔掉面具了。也只有你，才能复活我内心深处的真我。
“我想让你知道，你对我来说有多么宝贵。能够帮我摧毁隐秘的颤抖之墙，能够为我摘掉面具的人也只有你。你能把我从不安、自卑而且犹疑的世界里解放出来。请不要离我而去！”
“这对你来说也不容易。长久堆积的恐惧和自以为人生毫无价值的怀疑，形成了厚厚的墙，若想摧毁谈何容易。也许你愈是向我走近，我愈是抵抗斗争。可是，爱和接纳、宽容却比世界上所有的墙都强大。请你用温柔的手为我摧毁这些墙。因为我心灵深处的小孩很柔弱，很容易受到伤害。请你摘掉我的面具，接纳我，爱我吧！”
“我渴望被接纳和被爱。”
“我是你非常了解的人。我是你遇见的所有人。”
“我就是你啊。”
这是一片深深触动我心灵的文章。
希望我可以遇到一个愿意摘下我的面具，或者可以让我为他摘下面具的人。
那个人是你吗？
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