No new material today.  This mini-post first appeared on Tumblr.

To pass in society is to wear your mask such that the separation of mask and flesh is not perceptible.

‘Passing’ is a complex social construct in which a person feigns membership in a group that is accepted by society.  For me, this can me passing as cisgendered when I am transgender.  More often, it means passing as a non-sociopath when I am otherwise.

When we put on our masks, are we really doing anything that different than others in society?  People who live outside of their means pass as social and financial elite.  The non-monogamous and wrathful priest passes as a moral man of God.  The average person may attempt to pass as intelligent by learning buzzwords.  The shy young woman passes as a life of the party when she “acts” at social gatherings.  The list goes on ad infinitum.

Some of these, like the average feigning higher intelligence, are adorable but inconsequential.  Some are destroying themselves by wearing a mask.  Then there are us, the sociopaths, and we are the walking damned by society even though we are merely doing the same as others.  It matters not to them whether we choose to act in immoral ways, it only matters that we exist.

Our goal, for our own self-preservation, is to wear that mask such that skin and plastic are inseparable.  Others should not know what is real and what is not with us.  This need not be because we are on the prowl, but certainly should be because others tend to disgust us.  If you shake my hand, you need not know that I’m counting your fingers.  If I wear my mask right, you will never know.