"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)
I came across this quote on what appears to be a Porsche forum (I didn't want to take the time to look further) while looking for a good family lawyer and was so entranced by it (the quote, not the site) that I had to blog about it. As a Gemini, and someone who once upon a time struggled with duality in his own personal identity, this quote really resonated with me.
The quote actually reminds me of a particular incident that took place at a diversity event when I worked at the Comfy Green Bank. A British immigrant of East Indian descent (hereafter referred to as "Buddy") asked a question of the bank's US head (of East Indian heritage, let's call him "Barry") - his question went something along the lines of "how does he manage the series of masks that he has to wear between his (presumably East Indian) home self, vs his work self, in order to allow himself to succeed in North American Culture. Well, Barry shot down Buddy in a hurry, telling him (in a tone that said, "what are you, a frigging idiot??") that this whole wearing of masks thing was pure horseshit, and that Buddy better figure out who he was and be it if he wanted to move up the proverbial corporate ladder.
In my mind, Barry was a bit harsh. The truth of the matter is that you absolutely have to be yourself. Your values, your morals, ethics and all the stuff that makes up the essence of you, has to be consistent, has to carry through. Think of yourself as a drink of water - sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes frozen, sometimes in a bottle, glass or other container, but no matter what, you're still H2O.
Here's hoping Buddy's got this figured out.
Peace.
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