How we Feel

During  the 70′s, mood rings were incredibly popular, it was used as a way to say “Hey Everyone! I am cool, this is how I feel”. The premise of a mood ring is that by using the temperature of the body, a color which corresponded to a feeling was displayed. I shall not delve into the science of it. The point I mean to make here is that at some point, (alas no longer) one could tell how another was feeling with sight alone. That is not the case today. We may wish we had a “cybermoodring” to let others know how we feel, truly feel.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a poet whose poem “We Wear the Mask” nicely makes this point:

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes-

This debt we pay to human guile;

with torn and bleeding hearts we smile”.

Is this not so true?!?! How many of us, for fear of being told to “Get over it”, for fear of being the nexus of ostracism do not reveal that we feel horrible, hated, unwanted and hide behind a mask and say ” I am good”? I am sure almost all of us have, perhaps with alarming regularity. Why do we do this? Because there is a lack of loyalty online. If we had more loyal friends, if people were more compassionate, we would feel more at ease and able to tell how we feel and perhaps get some comfort and help. But since many do not display that love and loyalty online, we feel as if we should hide! I think this should stop.