Masks: Natalia's Day 8 Answer

Richard..

If there is anything I can say that can describe people like how Martinez used birds, I would use masks. People in their daily lives show what they want to show to everyone around them. For example, a student can show that he's this straight A student who smiles a lot and has all these friends. But on his walk home, he's dreading thinking about the fact that at home there's no running water or food for the next day. A girl can be the head cheerleader on the squad but still have a father who throws her around like a rag doll and lowers her self esteem day by day. Some people have that tact to wear a mask all the time to hide how their lives really are. They tend to bury all the hurt and negative things underneath and try to fit into the persona they want to portray. Sure, when we first met each other, we really didn't have much of an impression of each other but we pretty much assumed that each of had a reason for being at the Bridge Program. But as you heard the essays from Tatum, Michelle, and Meghan; you start to see something in each of them you never saw before. You see fighters who were caged by life's troubles but decided to break the barrier and free themselves. No one ever chooses their own path as they grow up. Things come at you as they do and all you really have the choice of doing is taking how it comes and dealing. I understood how Martinez would say that about the juviniels staying there in the juvinal hall. I can assume that a lot of them don't want to be in the situations they're in now but in this book, they see it as a way to show those who are free to stay free and to keep it that way. I can imagine that Marjane would feel the same about her situation. She's "caged" in this war that is tearing everything apart in her country and she can't help but have that helpless feeling like a caged bird. But I know she also has this will to escape and not comform to this lifestyle they expect her to live. In life, we will meet a lot of people who are free or caged. Who die and who live. Who start families and those who never can. But sometimees with the masks we wear, you'd never really know it unless me told you... unless we admitted it out loud.