Inviting Mr. and/or Ms. Hyde

Photo credit: Lel4nd

I sway between being appalled and disgusted, annoyed and amused, every time I see someone’s Mr. / Ms. Hyde peeking out from their otherwise calm/cheerful/happy, and seemingly balanced persona. I’ve also noticed that sometimes it doesn’t take much for that not-so-elusive Mr. / Ms. Hyde to pop out. All it takes for someone to unleash their inner demons is a few glasses of whiskey, rum or the drink of their choice; a conversation that goes awry; a tight situation that demands balance but elicits just the opposite reaction from them.

While it’s totally normal to get tipsy and make a fool of oneself when you’re brimming with alcohol, it’s an entirely other matter when alcohol makes one strip others of their respect. For men, and some of them much married with kids in tow, to morph into street side Romeos, lecherous and lewd, pawing women – literally or verbally just because they feel like it.

Alcohol isn’t the only way to invite Mr. / Ms. Hyde. Conversations can be just as potent. Conversations that cross the boundary, conversations that judge, conversations that don’t go as we’d like them to, can fray the seams of one’s façade. That façade that we put up for the world. A bright, chatty, happy persona that can be just as brittle as the glass panes on our windows.

Situations - unsavory and unappealing, or situations of our own creation that test the tenacity of our inner strength can stretch us, sometimes so much that we hurl out a Mr. / Ms. Hyde at the world.

It’s as we walk, run or paddle through these tunnels and cobblestones, paths and trails of our life that we get to put our real personas to test.

Do we have the grace to go through each of these without twisting our personalities?

Do we have the grace to deal with a situation without turning sullen/angry/negative/lewd?

Can we keep our balance when alcohol or people make us stumble?

Can we stop ourselves from sullying ourselves and others, when the devil is whispering in our ear?