Dressed in a beautiful saree, decked in the finest jewellery, I looked expectantly at the mirror - I looked weird! My face looked bloated and disproportionate. I looked fat and short.
It took
me some time to get over the shock, and once done, I looked again at another
mirror…my abnormally thin and elongated face stared back, I looked too slim and
too tall!
‘But
that's not me!’, I exclaimed.
I
walked across a wall of mirrors and confronted a new series of reflections,
each showing a different me…I felt confused and lost.
This
frightful experience got me thinking. Why did I need approval for my appearance
from the mirrors? Why can't I trust myself and believe, irrespective of what
the contradictory mirrors say, I LOOK GOOD.
In
spite of being powerful in her own way, the wicked stepmother called out each
day,
‘Mirror,
Mirror on the wall, who’s fairest of them all?’
Why did
she need confirmation from her mirror?
Why do
we need approval from others? Are we too high on confidence that we are sure of
praises, or are we too low that we need crutches?
Whenever
we need to back our thoughts or ideas we always quote a higher authority and
say how it has somewhat echoed our thoughts and when contradicted we start
rethinking.
Why do
we give so much importance to others’ opinions that it somehow starts
manipulating our own thoughts?
Most of
the things, these days, have become artificial - forget nails and
hair, people's behaviour too has lost its uniqueness. Trying to stand out
as different has made us the most ordinary. How can we be unique if we are too
influenced by someone else?
It took
one Pied Piper to lead an army of rats…similarly one winner can suddenly give
birth to thousands of aspiring clones, each copying and competing to one day
replace the original. Hence, losing their originality in the rat race.
Instead why don't they be inspired, and aspire to be a maverick?
