the one with the phantom kinda life

sitting here, alone, and absolutely melancholic, all i can think of doing is writing this down before i go to bed.
watched the phantom of the opera on dvd just now and well, that show always brings lotsa feelings back out in the open.
not good ones of course, just the painful/sad ones.

it was actually quite ok, was enjoying the singing, until someone mentioned that it isnt real, this kinda thing doesnt happen in real life.
that struck me, and something i havent thought about in a long time came rushing back.

the phantom of today isnt a disfigured soul, or a freak of nature. it is everyone who has been rejected because of how they look. ugly people, fat people, short people, anyone who doesnt fit into the world's view of beauty.

in the show, the phantom was a deranged, self-pitying monster. many would just leave it at that and just categorise him that way.
how many would actually consider the reasons why he turned out that way?
i am sure he didnt want to become the monster that he had become.
his eventuality is a reflection of how we all might end up if we suffered a life of rejection, of low self-esteem, of loneliness. is the phantom truely a monster, or a reflection of how some of us might turn out if we never find love?