Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAlister
Word of the Day: Person
When you think of a person, you think of the true individual, the essence of the being. To know a person is to know their attributes of reason, morality, consciousness and their true soul. Or so we think. The word “person” comes from the Latin “persona,” which was an actor’s mask or a character in play.
The word recognizes that we all have two sides to our self: a side that is shared consciously and unconsciously with the people around us and a side we keep to ourselves. The Japanese say we have three faces: the face you show the world, the face you show your close friends and family and the face you never show anyone. It’s why incidents like Robin Williams’ suicide are so shocking. His outside persona as a comedian never hinted at his quiet life-long struggle with depression.
Most of us have become quite good at hiding our true emotions. A person tends to be more complex than we can recognize and our perception of them is based on their individual relationship to us as a friend, family member, coworker, or celebrity. Think you know the real someone? You know the “person” in the truest sense of the word, which is the mask the world is allowed to see. Shakespeare expressed this famously in his line, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
