Many of us are not who we seem to be. We put on alter egos as powerful as Batman. We pretend to be things we are not for a host of reasons. We pretend for fun, for positive reasons, for negative reasons, and sometimes because we feel we have to. I’m grateful we can pretend to be different people.
I am not grateful we can pretend and be fake or inauthentic. That is using this power of pretend for evil. Most powers can be used for good or evil. I feel like when we talk about people pretending to be something that we think of it negatively. I do think it is a skill that we can use for good, and I think there are a lot of times when we should.
The power of pretend allows us to be something we are not. There are so many times in life when we need to be something we are not. We may need to brave. We may need to be a leader. We may need to be disciplined. We might need to be these things, but we can pretend to be these things. By pretending I don’t think we are lying, we are reinventing in a way.
When we pretend we can take on the actions and habits of the thing we need to be. By taking on actions and habits and wearing them as a disguise we start to become those things. You may not be a brave person, but you can do brave things. If you can do brave things, then it doesn’t matter if you’re a “brave person” you get the same result. In time you might even become brave. This holds true for many things. We must walk the line between pretend and bullshit, but that is a line we can walk.
Pretending is not some lie, and its not about boasting. If we use the bravery example before it might take bravery for you to talk in front of a large group of people. If you act brave and pretend to be brave and get up and do the talk, did you really lie. You used this pretending to do something. You didn’t brag to anyone about it. I think that is how we must pretend.
The power of pretend is wonderful. Children are very good at it. Their entire days can be full of it. It is likely we adults still hold these powers inside us. We only need exercise this skill to unlock its potential. Even if we can’t pretend, we can probably pretend to pretend until we are able to pretend. For these things I am thankful.