Reflections

I'm currently reading a book that reveals the internal thoughts of a young twelve year old girl and a snobby female concierge as they live life in a prestigious condo building in Paris, France. This book is beautifully written and contains ideas that provoke thought.

Just the other day a paragraph jumped out at me that I want to share it with you:

We never look beyond our assumptions and, what's worse, we have given up trying to meet others; we just meet ourselves. We don't recognize each other because other people have become our permanent mirrors. If we actually realized this, if we were to become aware of the fact that we are only ever looking at ourselves in the other person, that we are alone in the wilderness, we would go crazy.

I thought this was a profound statement. Could it be true? Am I looking at you to see myself? Am I missing the Peace in your gaze; the Hope in your story; the Joy in your laugh? Am I only taking a piece of you, the one piece that matches closest to what I perceive about myself and stacking it on top of all the other collected pieces from my interactions? Am I trying to reinvent myself each day from these reflections?

What if I don't like what's reflected? If I'm only looking at you to see myself, how will I feel when I see something I don't like. What if you don't laugh at my joke and fail to reflect my humor; and what if you forget to say "thank you" and miss my kindness...will I say it's your problem or will I think that maybe I wasn't as funny or as kind as I perceived myself to be?

What if I love what is reflected? I may think I'm the funniest person in the world or the kindest or the most beautiful. This can't be good either..."pride comes before the fall."

So what to do?

One remedy is to go back to where we started and remember to meet people for who they are, and take ourselves out of the reflection. Who are you? What are your hopes and dreams under the surface of our encounter? What are you about?

Well, I think that's enough for today...my brain hurts from all this thinking. Tonight I will work on seeing my family and friends for who they are and grow to love them all the more...what about you?