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 to me.

But don’t be fooled, oh no, don’t be fooled. I give you the impression that I’m secure 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 lays no smugness, no complacence. Beneath dwells the real me, in confusion, in fear, in aloneness. But I hide this. I don’t want anyone 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 facade, 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. Who am I; you may wonder. I am somebody you know very well. I am every man, every woman you meet. I am, in fact, YOU!