Showing

You know, babies don't just make loud noise for attention.

If they don't get what they want they can get angry.

They scrunch up their eyes, open their mouths wide, kick their feet and punch their arms,

jump around, and twist and turn their bodies, all squiggly with rage.

They're showing not just what they want but how they feel about the situation.

Then, as they grow they learn other less noisy ways to show each other what they think and feel,

the faces they pull, the shape and movement of their bodies, showing the world what is inside them.

And as they learn how others show what they are feeling they can copy them.

they can act like other people.

they can pretend to be them.

they can tell a story and show what they imagine the people in it are like.

They can act out a story with different people playing different parts,

and they can dress up in different ways to look like different people.

They don't have to use words to tell a story,

they can act things out using different kinds of mime.

You can see it in street entertainers, circus clowns or Mr. Bean.

they don't even have to show their faces,

they can act things out using masks.

In fact, they don't even have to show themselves at all,

they can use puppets to tell stories,

hand puppets or string puppets or even shadow puppets.

But as they learn how to pretend to be someone else,

good or bad,

they need to remember that other people can do the same thing, including bad people.

It is important to know the difference between pretending to be a bad person in a story

and being a bad person in real life.

Because if you say something bad and mean it to be bad it's no good saying 'I was only pretending'

And it's no good pretending to be a good person if it's just to hide the bad things you are really doing.

So humans can pretend to be different,

and use the way they move, to tell stories

or explain how they feel through acting and dancing,

and these things can be powerful and special.

But although you can pretend to be someone other than who you are,

is it not better that your everyday life should be real and not acting and pretending?

Surely it is best for you to be happy with who you are every day,

and not pretending to be someone else