Why the Selfies?

Why the selfies?

As you have no doubt noticed, I am not particularly handsome. I am not a brilliant photographer. I am not a celebrity. Not a star. No one special in the great scheme of things.

I decided a few years ago to share myself on social media in the areas where I am a little exceptional. I am an observant Jew who is more open to other kinds of people than most observant Jews. That is interesting. Nowadays I write poetry. I like to share little comments about the world and snippets of wisdom or thoughts that come to my hand. I have something to share, I think.

If you were my neighbor. You would see me taking down my garbage cans. You would see that I dress funny. Sometimes I dress very traditionally Jewish, sometimes kind of Moroccan and I wear lots of different kinds of hats. You would see books in my hand, Torah books, books of Sufi poetry, all sorts of books. You would see my ever-present phone and computer.

I would be a person among all the people you know. We are not static photographs in each other's minds. I am not fixed forever in my neighbor's mind dressed in my Shabbat robes. He has also seen me in my jeans. We are changing from day to day. So I let my images change with my mood or circumstance. I try to choose photographs that "say" something important about the guy you might encounter if you were here. Or maybe better, about something you might miss. Sadly we miss a lot about one another. Selfies can be a way to reveal those things. They are a double-edged sword. We can use the selfies to hide behind some ideal curated version of who we are or we can use them to reveal hidden faces. I hope and try to do the latter. I am sure I sometimes fall into the former.

So the "selfies" are mostly a way of putting "a face" to me.

Is it an expression of "ego?" Yes, to the extent that I have unilaterally decided that I am interesting enough to be worth sharing with the world. That is a fairly egotistical assertion and it is fair that I own it. My saving grace is that I am grateful that others choose to share themselves with the world too and just as i hope you have an authentic curiosity about me, I hope i have an authentic curiosity about you.

So how about you? How do you choose or not choose to use your own image?