The Atlantic Was Born Today...

This is the (insert pseudonym here) portion of the blog!
I really don’t know what to write, so I am going to base this off of numerous blogs I’ve browsed over the internet when I should have been researching for my next term paper. So my day went like…

Nahh forget it.

Something about the way blogs work confuses me. I guess I sometimes wonder why we feel the need to write these in the first place. Perhaps it is just a way for us to reach out to people actually interested in what we have to say. We all have the need for that (if you don’t feel this way, then you’re not human!!). Maybe sometimes it’s cool to have somebody on the same wavelength as yourself.

I know I do.

I ramble half the time (like right now), but it’s neat when somebody actually thinks you make a great point. It’s like, “Hey don’t worry you’re not crazy, I also think that blah blah blah (insert important conspirator info here)” Well, not like that.

(THAT was rambling.)

...Okay, now you think I’m nuts.

But no seriously, the main point is that it’s wonderfully amazing to find people that actually “get where you’re coming from”. For instance, this morning I came in late for something and felt extremely awkward for causing an interruption. I sat down, and wondered, “Why is it embarrassing to stumble into people’s conversations and meetings? Is there some type of uninterrupted wavelength to which people attune themselves when together?”

Perhaps there is...

I know that it’s always a relief when something you are trying to say is truly understood by someone else. It’s that human connection, I guess, if that’s what you want to call it. Politeness, an engaging exchange of dialogue, and finishing each other’s sentences, are all beautiful aspects of the human experience. (woot!) Hey, I guess it even makes sense now that two people are making this blog. (I hope you get all the imagery!) We both contribute and hopefully have a creative coalescence of understanding.

Human beings, connecting and coexisting, learning from and understanding each other, and spreading that one Love, that’s what is important.

Not this other stuff that seems to pull us apart like indifference, competition, and pride (those aren't too cool for everybody else)

Sometimes we just need people so much closer.

Nothing Earth-Shattering About Masks

I feel like the first post should be something spectacular, insightful, and earth-shattering.
However
If that were the case, then nothing would ever get posted and thus this blog would be worthless.

So
I'm just gonna jump into it with something that I was thinking about (and that Jamella and I were actually talking about a little).

I hate it that we all have this "mold" that we're expected to fit--specific "masks" that we are supposed to wear: for our parents, for our friends, in the church, in front of strangers. And, as a mask is supposed to do, they hide who you really are. And that frustrates me. I feel like I'm being shoved into a mold that I don't fit into, both by pressure from others and self imposed pressure to be who I think they want me to be. But does anyone really care? Am I forcing myself into a mold under false pretenses?

I do think to a certain extent that people have these paradigms set up in their heads and certain people are supposed to be certain things. And while you may not consciously think about it, you definitely do notice if someone steps outside of that paradigm.

I guess the majority of this is my own doing and my own fault--caring too much what others think. But I DO care and I'm not brave enough to shatter the norms (nor do I want to).

Another reason we hide is that we don't want to be vulnerable. But at the same time, if we never connect to others, what's the point in living with and among people? It's such a fine line of opening yourself up without being clingy, of being real but not comfortable in this feeling of vulnerability.

So where does that leave us? Wearing masks that don't fit of characters we aren't (or aren't fully or aren't anymore), wanting desperately to connect but not being able to open that door.

-D*sire-