Speak, you ask, okay I’ll speak. I’ll speak in such a way that you will be left breathless and speechless. I’ll speak so eloquently and fluently that my words will sound as if they have been crafted from water. Flowing smoothly one after another, like waterfalls. I’ll speak with such a sophisticated range of vocabulary that you will have to scramble blindly to keep up with. I’ll speak with such charisma that you will listen in admiration to my ideas. I’ll speak in a way that I could have said the stupidest thing on Earth, yet you will agree with it. In fact, you will worship it. Yet, when I go home, I’ll drop the mask of eloquence, and replace it with rapid and slurred speech. Speech that is not something to be considered “worthy” of people’s time, although, it comes from the same mouth that has been deemed worthy. Speech that is considered to be “broken” “slang” or even “unscholarly.”Although the meaning behind the speech has not changed just the way I say it has. For example when I go home I’ll swap “I go” with “I be going”, and “I am” with “I is.” Replace “mine” with “mines” “can I have” with “gimmie” and “friend” with “bro.” This change is not something I would notice if I hadn’t looked for it, purposely. Yet, all those who see my mask of eloquence only see me as a very smart individual, they cannot see the subtle nuances in my character. Those who only see the dropped mask see me as ignorant and naïve, they too cannot see the subtle nuances of my character. The select and rare few who have seen both the mask and the dropped mask, see me for my own individual intelligence that can sometimes be naïve in some ways, but can never be ignorant. But the fact of the matter is I cannot drop my mask everywhere, for there are people that are a majority, who will look down on me because of it. Yet the majority fails to see the true intelligence behind my ability to determine whether or not I need my mask. They purposely blind themselves to the level of independence and power that comes with the ability to code switch between formal and informal. They fail to see me.
