Life Is A Stage
December 05, 2002, 2:06 PM

The truly insane perform on many public stages. The "sane" stage their performances in the privacy of their own minds. In the end however, Everyone wants applause.

People who are known as sane perform in socially acceptable ways like making good grades. Then there are people like me who crave a more extreme sort of attention or applause - people who are labeled insane. Our performances may consist of anything from hyperactivity, to sometimes foolish behavior (manic stage), to being so down and in so much pain that we use a razor to express it (depression). This drama or stage performance is called the bipolar disorder.

Disorder or not it's still a way to receive applause. When I say "applause" I mean attention which isn't always positive. So for example if your mother finds you cutting your wrists chances are she will not clap her hands.

For some, life is a series of simple events such as breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend in such an event the applause comes in a form of sympathetic stares and hugs from friends and sometimes parents who you confide in. The time you find you made the honor roll at school, you may receive literal applause or hand shakes and possibly an increase in allowance.

But then there are other plays. Plays that are more complicated. Plays where there are unjustified courses of action at times. And yes we are back to the plays of the insane - confusing plays where you don't understand the main character, or they cause you to not understand yourself.

Life is a stage... The jock in the movie "The Breakfast Club" who attacks the nerd, did not do it for his own direct benefit but just for the applause. Maybe it's the same with the teenager who cuts her wrists at night: a "cry for help" or a longing for applause?

It's all a strange elaborate performance with an unpredictable cast - the sane and the insane alike. Maybe just everyone; from the 40 year old business man who rides the commuter train back and forth everyday, making responsible decisions, to the crack head in the street who steals from family and friends to get their next fix - maybe it's just a play... Hence the Truman Show or MTV's Real World.

It's an interesting thought don't you think?

Later Days,
Blaze

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