Dear Jeremy,
In the last few days I’ve been learning not to trust people. And I’m glad I failed. Sometimes we depend on other people’s mirror to define ourselves and tell us who we are. Each reflection makes me like myself a little more.
Elizabeth
From My Blueberry Nights
I always read about that - using other people’s mirror to define you; looking at life through their lens. I think I now understand what that means. For a long time, I walked everywhere with my head down just because I don’t want to attract attention, which, ironically, is what turned heads in my direction, and not in a good way. While my classmates in school were busy campaigning for the student council, waving vinyl banners with their names in huge, bold letters, I was busy looking on and thinking that’s not something I can do myself. Not that that opinion changed as I grew older. I was raised to be a pacifist, and there are parts of that upbringing you do not outgrow. I looked at car magnets that announce somebody’s profession or place of study, and I never thought them tacky. Sometimes I get the feeling that I now wake up everyday a little less kinder, a little less tolerant of such things as too much display of self-importance. I guess you can say I’m losing my sense of humor as I allow such thoughts to consume me. That’s why I’m writing this down, so I don’t forget. So I don’t forget that people are different and I don’t want to live in a world filled only with people like myself, anyway. Because, now, that would be such a dud.
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