September 10th, 2014 | Uncategorized
This past week I really enjoyed my Wednesday night working with Shehoops and Ehoops. I have been here for a whole a month now and I see so many similarities in personalities and the thought process of the young people from Ireland with the US young people. Sometimes it makes me stop and wonder if I actually am in a different country. I hear where they come from and it then shows why they wear this mask.
Showing who you really are is the most novice thing you can do as a person. I have been in areas in which you have to act certain ways to be accepted/fit in. People from areas with close knit communities and problems that can cause human harm are sometimes subject to change. Change is unfamiliar to them so when they come across it they can be put on the edge. So it is acceptable for them to put on this mask and act a different way so people in their community will accept them and feel as if they are one of their own. But, as I sat in Shehoops and painted my mask and listened to the classroom session of Ehoops about fear it hit me. There is no such thing of fear if you do not question who you are and what you stand for.
To become what/who you want to be, you have to step out on a ledge. As a wee kid, I wasn’t comfortable with going to school, I got nervous on the first day of school up until 10th grade. I feared being around so many new people because it made me uncomfortable. I always went though, and every year I got better and better with it.
Things will change and you can’t let fear stop you from accepting this change. Some change is good and some will be bad. If it’s bad, you dust yourself off and try again on your next quest. But, you have to be open to change so you can see what else life has in store for you. I honestly believe that if you show your true self to the world that you will begin to like yourself as a person even more. It is truly amazing to begin to see the mask that the young people wear begin to come off. It is giving me a chance to know who they really are and how they truly feel about situations.
Why hide behind a mask when everyone’s true beauty lies beneath it.
