More Than Meets the Eye

Just recently, I purchased the entire DVD collection of one of my staple cartoon shows from my youth, the original Transformers series. Yes, I admit, I was fully around 17 years old when it first aired, but any true geeky person who was alive enough to enjoy the show when it originally aired on TV who claims that they never watched it, or didn't like it, in my opinion, is lying.  I would always get home from school and rush through my chores and whatever homework I had so I could watch it when it came on at 4pm.  I even collected some of the figures, some of which I still have somewhere. But I digress, as that is not the topic of this post.

As I was watching the first disc in the set, and singing along to the opening theme like a total geekwad, it occurred to me that we are all like the Transformers in that there is more to each of us than meets the eye. Think about it. Each one of us has an outer persona that everybody sees, regardless of who we encounter. That persona is what we put forward, our front, so to speak. However, there is always more below the surface that people do NOT see. That is our innermost being, those things we either do not share at all, or share with a select few people. That underlying identity can hide many things, from past trauma, to secret desires, fears, dreams, etc.  What we choose to share from this "hidden" persona depends mainly on who we trust enough not to use that information against us. In my case, it's usually only close friends and family members that I share my inner-being with.

Sometimes, that outer facade cracks, or fails, and what is kept hidden is revealed. Sometimes, this is a good thing, but more often than not, it is not. Take, for example, the leader who puts on an outer facade of fairness, honesty, and integrity. That facade fails to reveal someone who is completely opposite of what was put forward for everyone to see, and he is revealed to be unfair, unjust, completely dishonest, and has no moral integrity at all. What happens then?  Said leader will most likely keep the weaker-minded followers (let's call them the sheep), but lose those who are able to think for themselves and see him for the fraud that he really is. Always keep in mind when dealing with people that there really is MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE.