Identity

I've recently gone through a pretty big change. My boyfriend and I broke up after a little over a year together. So, I've taken this time to reinvent myself, to change some things. In the midst of my latest revamp, I still have to take time to cope and heal, so I went on a shopping trip. Hello retail therapy. Well, I found a cute pair of glasses at Claire's and couldn't and wouldn't skip the opportunity. I've gotten a lot of compliments and a lot of questions of prescription, but I love them. The only catch is that they don't feel like a true part of my identity.

I think it is something that will come in time. I want them to be a permanent accessory. But when I feel them, see the frames, and look in the mirror, I feel like a different person. So, with the glasses I almost get to pretend, I get to be someone else with different problems and concerns when I have them on. When I take them off, I'm Allen again. All of this, of course, got me thinking about one of the most famous people who could change his identity with just a pair of glasses: Clark Kent.

Of course, we are all like "How the hell does no one notice? All he does is takes his glasses off!" And I think that argument is always going to hold. But think of someone you know who does not wear glasses, jewelry, a uniform and then put these things on them. They, even if for an instant, look like a different person. My customers almost don't recognize me in public because I'm not wearing an apron. This works in the opposite direction as well. Sometimes when we change a physical aspect of someone, we change our perception of that person's identity. Sometimes that person may do the same (I seem to remember an episode of Paranoia Agent where a woman with three distinct personalities all wore different clothes when they surfaced; the idea works in principle).

Maybe the entirety of the DC Universe completely changes their idea of Superman or Clark Kent's idea, though they are one in the same, when he does or does not have glasses on. Maybe Clark is a metaphor for how we can change our own identities by changing our outsides. Put on a pair of glasses, basically something out of your normal, and you can be a different person. Not to escape your reality, for that is impossible. I'm thinking of the much more positive implications of identity changes.

So, until these glasses become a true part of my identity and until I don't need another identity, maybe I'll be Sean. Maybe I'll pretend I'm in another skin and have adventures, because Lord knows I need one.