Persona

"Life has become a charade. We carry out one life in public, another in private"

-Kazem Ahangaron

A friend once mentioned to me a homework assignment: What is the purpose of your Facebook profile? What are you display to the world through it. I thought it was an interesting topic.

My Facebook profile's identity lies in its quotes section. I am not the most articulate person out there. I mumble and unless I have time to prepare my speech is filled with pauses and ramblings. It is the words of others that best articulate what's on my mind. Every quote on that page, with the exception of "Live every week like it's shark week" has special resonance with me and my view of the world and life.

I try to keep my wall posts lighthearted. This is the part of me most people will see. It is closest to my public persona. It is primarily smart alec quips, public questions or notifications, and the occasional link of interest. I don't want to force long musings on others. It is not because I do not want to share, but it's because I know people have other things they'd rather see and I don't want to be a bother.

For those that are interested in knowing more about me, I leave my profile information. The large majority of what I think is not private information. If you ask, I will tell you. But I do not volunteer it in conversation, just like I do not volunteer it on my facebook wall. If you ask, or search as you do so by reading my online journal, I will give a candid response. And if you don't care to know, then you won't.

I do hope people read this, just like I hope people read the quotations and see what's important to me or try to find out more about me when they talk to me. It's not because I think I have anything particularly special to share. As mentioned above, others can say what I have on my mind better than myself. It's just a comfort to know some people care enough to learn more about who I am as a human being. To paraphrase Shrek, I'm like an onion. I'm stinky and make you cry, but there are layers! Or so it seems from the number of people who commonly say I seem like an idiot or ass under initial impressions but they find me interesting enough to be good friends later on.

I had the best conversation I've probably had with someone since I joined the Marine Corps today, and it was with someone I barely even know. They didn't ask any of the overdone trite questions about if I was in combat, did I shoot anyone, or anything like that. They didn't ask about politics in the meta scale. They asked about me, my thoughts as a person. And they listened. It may be a bit selfish to want someone to actually be interested in what I have to say, but it's a very human want to desire someone, even a relative stranger, to care enough to know about you as an individual.

What does your Facebook profile say about you? Do you have a different public and private persona?