Face painting is the perfect title for this essay. When small children play dress-up, they use face paints and masks to become different people. Adults too have masks but these masks are different. These costumes are used every day to cover the true person inside. Personal masks are made by strangers who think that everyone should be exactly alike. Without this cloned mask, someone might think one were an outsider or a freak. No one wants to be different. Could it be possible that I too have been trying too hard to be like everyone else? What people want me to be has taken a toll on me.

I've tried acting silly, funny, sensitive, tough, smart-mouthed and even like a jock. None of these attitudes makes me happy. I am afraid to be who I really am. And I am twice as afraid of forgetting exactly who that person is.

Sometimes I wonder why so many people throw away their original identity. One thing is for sure, I am going to find that person I lost so long ago. Maybe I'll ride across the country on a motorcycle just like Peter Fonda in the movie "Easy Rider" and try to discover myself. For now, I think I'll just go to the all-you-can-eat breakfast at Bickford's. n