welcome to the masquerade

We've got the fire, who's got the matches?
Take a look around at the sea of masks
Come one, come all, welcome to the grand ball
Where the strong run for cover and the weak stand tall

I'm not one to scare the masses
But there's somethings that melt the plastic
Try and dig down deeper if you can

I'm not afraid, I'm not ashamed
I'm not to blame, welcome to the masquerade
I'm not ashamed, I'm not afraid
I'm not okay, welcome to the masquerade
Welcome to the masquerade

We've got the power, who's got the action?
Break it down 'til there's nothing but a mere fraction
Out of the fire, rise from the ashes
Reject your doubt and release the passion

Let's get on it, believe if you want it
Step into the realm where the real ones flaunt it
Come back, rewind, another time on it
Reach out, take that but now step on it

I'm not one to scare the masses
But there's somethings that melt the plastic
Try and dig down deeper if you can

I'm not afraid, I'm not ashamed
I'm not to blame, welcome to the masquerade
I'm not ashamed, I'm not afraid
I'm not okay, welcome to the masquerade
Welcome to the masquerade

I'm not afraid, I'm not ashamed
I'm not to blame, welcome to the masquerade
I'm not ashamed, I'm not afraid
I'm not okay, welcome to the masquerade

I'm not one to scare the masses
But there's somethings that melt the plastic
Try and dig down deeper if you can

I'm not afraid, I'm not ashamed
I'm not to blame, welcome to the masquerade
I'm not ashamed, I'm not afraid
I'm not okay, welcome to the masquerade
Welcome to the masquerade

This is a song by Thousand Foot Krutch. (To save myself time, I will call them TFK for the remainder of the post - and history.) This is off of the album Welcome to the Masquerade. As I said in another post, this album is a phenomenal piece of work. It came out in September of 2009 and happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time.

Regardless of my personal bias for this album, this song in particular addresses something that I've come to realize about society nowadays.

We all wear masks.

We're all scared to let anyone see who we truly are, or how we truly feel. Whether we don't want to bore anyone with what we really think or if we're scared that who we are just isn't good enough, we find a mask to hide behind. Stereotypes galore exist - preppy, cheerleader, jock, slut, nerd, geek, gamer...the list goes on.

Here's a question for you: what is the most predictable answer to a question in the U.S.? I'll give you a hint: the question is, "How are you?"

You may laugh, but 99% of the time, you're one of the one's saying, "I'm fine," or "I'm doing ok," or "I'm good," or...you get the idea. We all say we're fine to anyone who asks, regardless of what we truly feel inside. I know I'm bad at this...and by "bad" I mean "I always answer with 'fine' or 'ok'". Even when "fine" is about as far away as the moon.

I do not think that this observation is going to change society. We will still say we're fine when we're not. But maybe, when it's someone that we know truly cares about us, we will stop hiding behind our masks and admit that we're not OK.

And we'll find that they still love us anyway.





(This is actually the official video for the song - not a fan-made copyright-infringing video.)

-enna