Mirrors Do Not Reverse What You Are

NMB, Florida February 4, 2002 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

MIRRORS DO NOT REVERSE WHAT YOU ARE
You look in the mirror and think what you see is you. It is not. Well, it
is but it is you in reverse. The trick of physics (or whatever) reverses
what you see so that your left is on the right and the right is not right.

Salman Rushdie, that unconventional writer of Islamic origin, says that if
they were to look into the mirror the "opponents of the U.S. reveal much
about themselves." This is in an Op-Ed piece in today's NY Times and its
title is "America and Anti-Americans." I assume he still has goodly pieces
of Koranic wisdom woven into his being that unreasoning jingoistic jihad
fever have not erased. He still can look into a mirror and see what he is
and where he came from.

But that is not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is
that mirror thing. It reverses what you see and does not reverse you in any
way. What you see in the mirror is what you want to see and what you get.

I cannot look into the mirror and see anything other than an aged fat guy
with hair, while still gray, gets thinner every day. I cannot deny the image
that I see. I think I know what Rushdie is getting at. We should see
things that way. However, I think the drill is as follows.

We get up in the morning and see sleep, wrinkles and dishevelment. BUT,
under that exterior messiness is a beautiful human being. Each of us in his
or her own way is the best looking person we know. Others may not have our
particular uniqueness and are more symmetrical and smoother. Their eyes may
not be as far apart as ours and teeth as uniquely spaced - but by
conventional standards of beauty they are beat by our unique - well,
uniqueness. We are not going to get into what beliefs lie under the surface.

The Anti-Americans hate us because of what they do not see in the mirror.
They look at themselves and do not see successful, well-fed, well-educated
and superior people. What they see, instead, is un-American and
unsuccessful, skinny and peculiarly educated people who hate good. Carol's
Evaluation: 10 out of 10.