take off the mask and be you

A Story by Kiba Tripp

i hated how people were being made fun of to the point they weren't the person i knew before

I know I am going to sound really cliche but have you ever felt as if you weren't being the real you; or you weren't able to express what you thought; or you were too “different” to be yourself? During the years of being in high school, 56 to 60% of teens are “fake,” in others teens eyes and those 12-15% of people are classified as weird.

Now that we have the facts lets see what you really think. If i were to be the real me i would be wearing my tail everyday and or wearing my beeny everyday, but what is the one thing holding me back? It is the fact that people call me weird and crazy. Now lets look at Fidel and his story. He has been called stupid for the way he acts. He has been classified as “Fake,” (gangebanger) because they didn't believe that he was becoming a follower of christ. he was told that he was a “cheater,” because of past relationships he was in. He is himself by blocking out all the crap that people say and only letting the good in. He was called a quitter and it made him quite football. He no longer wanted to do it because of his family telling him that.

Now Fidel’s story and mine have nothing compared to some people. when we come to school and we have people taking about us badly and or we get bullied. It makes us cover ourselves with this mask that is thin at first and easy to remove but everytime someone says you are stupid, a quitter, are lame, never will be good at anything, and the list goes on. The mask gets thicker and thicker. It gets harder and harder to remove. The more we are trying to be like who ever we hangout with and or what are family wants us to become. we add to the mask and as we do we lose sight of who we really are.

I understand the feeling of being someone you are. i know what it is like to be brought down but i am going to ask you today and for the rest of your life. take off the mast be the beautiful person you really are and show the world that you are not what they want. look at Fidel and his story he did that and he is an awesome person and doing great in school and also in life.