You’re ugly. You have dark circles under your eyes. Why is your nose so big? Why are your ears so pointy? Why are your teeth so crooked?
Our mirrors give us opportunities to ask ourselves these questions. We wonder why we look the way we look, and we wonder if that’s the reason we are the way we are. But why? Mirrors are just reflections of the physical parts of us.
Our mirrors think they know everything about us. Sure, they know what brand of lotion we use, if we put toothpaste first then wet the brush or the way around, and how many chemicals we put on our skin to make it look perfect. Every morning and/or night. Sometimes our mirrors know when we last cried or when we last wanted to pull our hair out.
But our mirrors do not define us. Our mirrors cannot see what pain our middle school bullies caused us. They cannot see how much joy our best friends brought us. Our mirrors cannot see how radiant of smiles our family’s homemade Thanksgiving dinner put on our faces.
Our mirrors do not show us all the divine memories kept so carefully in our hearts. They do not show us how strong we are from all the invisible scars of the battles we fought and won or lost.
Our mirrors are mere reflections. They do not do justice to the complex, wonderful, and just plain exquisite people we are. We are all unique in our own ways, but our mirrors don’t spot all the differences.
It’s not just our big noses or crooked teeth that make us who we are. It’s our beautiful eyes, perfect ears, and cute smiles that make us who we are. And our mirrors, our reflections, simply cannot express that.
We are more than one wave in the sea, one leaf on a tree, and one color in a rainbow. We are it all. Only we know who we are. It’s time we embrace that.