Pretending

Let’s be honest for a moment: To everyone else, we are what we pretend to be. In public, we are something other than what we really are in private. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s our pretending that makes possible a polite and civil society. No one has any desire to live in a world where everyone acted like they really felt or said what they really thought. There’s such a thing as being too real. Sometimes pretending to be nice is the nicest thing we can do. But sometimes, pretending is neither good for us or society. Social media has now made pretending a sport. Presenting a false persona is certainly easier in these days of electronic communication. Unfortunately, the internet ushered in an era of lies, deception, and false identities. Let me give a warning to those who misuse social media in this way: illusion can exist for only a period of time, for reality always trumps in the end.