A story: There once lived a mirror that sat on the wall in a family house. It was quite a nice spot to be, for it saw the family as they went out and came home.
The children were particularly fun as they would look at the mirror and pull lots of funny faces, and the mirror loved to show them their bright happy eyes. The mother would look into the mirror on her way out to check that she was looking good and sometimes, look into her eyes and give a warm smile. This was always uplifting for the mirror for although it was just a mirror, it did know the truth of what it saw. ,,k whenever someone gave their heart the mirror felt its power and its beauty.
The father was a busy man, rushing out in the morning, he just glanced in the mirror to check his tie before he went out. He never seemed to have time to see himself and when the father did pause a little, the mirror could only show him all the things he needed to do, at work and in the house, as that was what was on his face.
This was not fun for the mirror for it knew that what the father saw of himself was not the whole truth but a fraction of the truth of who he was.
Although the mirror was tasked to always give what it was asked for, it had another job, a special job that it loved to do but rarely could. It was to show the soul of the person.
But most people did not have time for this, they hid this gift of the mirror from themselves behind their ‘I’m too busy to say hello’ face and turned away before the mirror could give it to them.
This was especially true of the father, he never had time to see this deeper part of himself, only the part of him that needed to do the things that needed doing.
The mirror suspected that he did not really want to see any more of himself, because in the small glances he did take, the mirror saw the struggle and pain he was carrying in life.
But one day the father did stop and look. For some reason, he did not rush off but just looked. At first, all he saw was his hard, busy face, but after a while, that seemed to fade. He began to see the anguish that his busy life that had put there, the lines of his age, his tired eyes and the sadness they carried
The mirror felt the man’s wish to look away but urged him to keep looking, to see beyond the pain that he saw, to see the star he held deep within his eyes.
Suddenly time stopped, there was nothing in the world except the man and the mirror. The silence was enormous and embraced everything. As the father looked into the eyes of himself, he saw his story. He saw the joy in the bright-eyed youth that he was and the journey to who he was now.
He could have been standing there for a second or a year whilst the mirror performed its true function. It gave the man the whole truth of himself, the picture of his struggles and also the image of his beautiful gentle soul.
He felt the distance between the love of the youth he was and the shadow of life he now carried. Somehow in his wish to do what should be done he had forsaken his heart and lost the soul of life.
Tears began to form in the eyes of the father as he spoke these words. ‘I love you, I am sorry for the pain that you carry, please forgive me and thank you for being there’.
As he finished speaking time began to move again, the hallway where he was standing came into focus, he heard the children playing upstairs and saw his wife in the garden.
He was home again but this time he felt the love and happiness that lived there. Everything seemed brighter, as if his eyes had been wiped clean.
He felt at home to himself, as if he had returned from a long voyage. He felt no longer a stranger to himself. It was a feeling that he had not felt for so many years.
From that day to this he would always pause and look into the mirror to remember what was truly important.
Article by Toby Negus
