The Happiness Mask

I found this image (copyright @ Frank Renlie) when i was searching for a suitable image for my blog. Just one of those recent days when i was quite moody and didn't know what i was really searching for. After an hour i was about to leave the hunt for another day when i came upon this picture and it immediately struck me that it was exactly what i was searching for. If you have been to my movie blog (which is incidentally not quite updated regularly and that is an understatement!!) there is a similar but not quite the same mask picture. The difference between that and this is the presence of 2 masks in that picture which does not reflect ME...that is just a picture showing expressions reflecting theatrics in the sense that it is exaggerated and are exact opposites in their reflection of emotions.

What i see in this Frank Renlie masterpiece (I do not have a great fascination for paintings except for very few which are really fascinating) is not just a man holding a mask. If you look carefully there are a number of things which will strike you. Firstly, the happiness of the mask is not an exact opposite of the emotions of the man. True he is sad but not in the traditional sense of grieving. Here the grieving has passed. For the lack of a better word, there is a deadness. Its almost like his eyes are saying 'I am feeling helpless, I do not know what to do at all, I just do not know the next step, I just want to be away from it all, I am desperate for happiness but have absolutely no clue as to how to find it and I am sick of everything. Secondly the mask itself can be interpreted in three ways. Is the man trying to remove his mask and show what he is going through or is he putting it on while showing us the glimpse of his depth of sadness or is he undecided.

My thinking is he had the mask on himself for a very long time but removed it when he could not take the unhappiness anymore. Unfortunately, destiny is cruel and removing the mask does not mean happiness returns. And now he is unsure since even the sadness has become unbearable. He is holding it while gazing into the distance looking for a divine intervention or solution but he knows that the time is near when either the mask will have to be put on back again if he doesn't find happiness to smile from within. And you might ask, why does he have to put on his mask?...Well it is because you have to start smiling for your world around you. Your family, your kids, your closest friends. It is also slightly more peaceful that ways. You run away from the questions and the sympathies and the advices.

Next time look around you in this world and try too see this facade on people. And there is a good chance that you will find it amongst your friends and family and god forbid...You. They will not come across as clinically depressive, in fact they can come across as extraordinarily happy or cheery. Just that they are not so in reality. Its a Happiness Mask that has been put up to shield themselves.

Next time Empathize with them...

While writing this piece, i was wondering about whether it is me holding the mask in the picture (Mask). The truth is I don't know...