ˌôTHenˈtisitē/
noun
the quality of being authentic.It seems really sad to me that I am even asking this question, and yet, here it is. This past year I kept running into the brick wall of a complete lack of authenticity in people and each time it happened, I would be shocked, hurt, angered, and appalled. What is it about our society that allows people to believe that putting on a "front" is totally ok, or worse, that it is the norm? I mean, I am willing to make allowances for a stranger who might be trying to present a side of themselves that is more socially acceptable or even attempting to "reinvent" themselves; we've all had periods in our lives when we were less than our best selves. But what about when it is someone you call 'friend'?
And by ''friend' I don't mean the person you have never met but are good pals with on Facebook or whatever. Internet friends are awesome and without a few of them (you know who you are) my time in Kuwait would have been bleaker and lonelier than it actually turned out to be, I'm grateful to the depths of my soul for you and hope to meet someday.
Still, those who you have actually spent time with, broken bread with, whose children you have cared for, whose tears you've wiped while shedding rivers of your own, whose darkest secrets you have kept closer than your own, when THOSE masks fall, it is a much deeper cut and the betrayal hurts much more.
So, this post isn't really going to be a great treatise on anything of great import. I just wonder, Does authenticity exist?
