mirror

I admire my friends. I learn so much from them. True friends would always give you true insight into what is "really" happening around you or perhaps you yourself. The fact is, we are all given a community to learn from. We may be born alone and die alone, meaning by ourselves but surrounding that birth and death are the people we care about. And yes, as the excerpt below would say, friends are excellent mirrors of our soul, life, environment. We ought to look outward in. What we find would either make us happy or sad for the people we keep and share parts of ourselves would clearly illuminate who we are. Once we do a self diagnosis, the next step then would be to decide, "is this the person I what to be?" The mirrors up my friend, you ought to look in.

Words from my dear friend Ralph:

Friends make for excellent mirrors. To find your true face you don't have to go too far, a good friend, as my Grandmother would say, will tell you about yourself. How invaluable it is to be shown your errors, paths that should be taken, the consequences of choices that you have made (often we make choices by default and fail to see them), or just pay mind to your sorrows.

Yet, most of us don't want any attention drawn to our pain, so we hide behind an illusion of happiness. Smiles are too easily faked. Laughter can come without anything funny being said. Some people cling to their mask for dear life, others hope to one day be uncovered. For a humorous example, Peter Parker/ Spiderman has spun a web of illusions creates a disjointed life. You can learn a lot from a dummy and a comic book, but I am sure that you can think of more relevant examples on your own. You probably would dare to give a glance at a world that could have been if not for their lies.

The “what ifs” of history are wonderful mind teasers. However, we will never know what would be different if such-and-such would have won a war or some assassin would have missed his mark. In the end, we are only given one present to deal with and deal with it we must. You can seek answers to the counter factual, but it will always be fiction.

Poetry can be described as a lie that tells the truth. A poem is born in the uncharted realm of the minds eye, so it lends itself to excessive promises and lofty descriptions. Yet, at the heart of its purpose is to lay claim to truth, a poem can convey meaning in a way prose never can. The mechanics of a poem are not prescriptive there are many devices and choice to make. A poem is a shimmering pool trying to reflect the light outside of its stanzas.

And so it is with, the reflections of our loved ones allow us to see ourselves, now that it is the poetry. We see our values. We see our hopes. We see our fears displayed because they engage us in a most uncivil war: the war between who want to be and who we are. In a very anesthetize world, our friends help us to soberly face ourselves. To be seen in all your weakness and still be treated with tenderness is truly love. What a benchmark for friendship that standard would be? Hopefully, it will never be anesthetize, because I would not pass that test too often.