mascot

i've always thought it would be great fun to be the mascot for a school athletic team.  You know, that funny person who dresses all up in a head-to-toe costume of some animal or whatever creature represents their team.  Dressed all up in that furry get-up, nobody has a clue who I am, I could do anything: dance to the pep band, jump around with the cheerleaders, act incredibly stupid, run up and greet little kids, trying not to scare them, embarrass some dignified people who look like they need to loosen up a bit...just have a ball!  I could do that!  As long as I don't have to speak, and nobody knows who I am, there's almost no limit to the crazy things I could do.  Yes, even introverts can feel comfortable performing and being the center of attention, in the right situation.  It's all about the costume.  The mask.  With that identity theft going on, I can do anything, as long as it's not illegal, harmful or immoral.  

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way in real life.  The mask.   You can wear a mask for a pretty long time, really, and get what you want , or what you think you want, by being a master of disguise.  Keep your heart locked away.  Yes, keep it hidden, don't let it get involved.  Because if the heart is fully engaged, boy, you have just set yourself up for incredible hurt, heartbreak and trouble.   So you wear the mask, the costume, keep the heart safe and hidden, and get by.   But at some point,  it happens:  Someone has the nerve (how dare they!!!?)  to rip off the mask.  Expose you for who you really are.  And everything you thought you gained by wearing that mask, is suddenly gone.  Or at least 50%.



And that's as far as the story goes.  so far.  I don't know what happens next.  With a mask on, I can make things up as I go along, for it's all just fiction.  But without the mask, it's real life.  And anything could happen.  that's scary.  that's stagefright.  real mascots don't have to deal with that kind of thing.
must be nice.