ARE YOU STILL PRETENDING

I Love You

“I don’t want to go around pretending to be me.” ~Philip Larkin, English author who declined to be poet laureate of Britain.

We are all actors learning to play a part. A part that changes throughout our lives. Who writes our scripts?  Who directs our emotions and our reactions? In the beginning – our parents, friends, schoolteachers, religious teachers, our peers, our co-workers and others.

Children pretend to be characters in cartoons, movies, games and television. They learn early to imitate. I don’t remember if that pretending included learning the consequences of the characters’ actions.

Becoming an adult does not make you immune to scripts. In the past people wanted their lives to mirror the novels they read, or the movies they watched. Now, their hopes and dreams are based on “internet reality.”

Are you counting your blessings? Are you making yourself happy? Are you making yourself unhappy? In all the scripts that you have been given, have you finally discovered who you are, or are you still pretending to be you?

ART: “Enchanted” 2024