Mirror talks. I heard someone use that term once. They are the moments you have when you’re alone and at your most vulnerable. Because that’s when we are always the most vulnerable. When we are alone. Teeth brushed, hair (or lack thereof in my case) brushed, deep breath taken. Ready for a new day. Ready for the people and problems that are always coming. Once more into the fray, good friends.
The mirror talk is when you, me, all tell ourselves that this will pass, the struggle of whatever you are contending with will pass. That you have the ability to endure the difficulties of the coming day. As Hamlet said, you can fight through the slings and arrows life throws your way.
Mirror talks. We all have them. Even those people who are about to be the very cause of your problems. Even those people who are the subject of your own moment of self and actual reflection (unless you’re a vampire. No mirror reflection with vampires because, you know, folklore, Hollywood and all).
Mirror talks. The man I heard say this didn’t seem the type to have mirror talks. They are out there, I guess. The totally confident and bullet-proof. Maybe they exist. Yet I doubt it. But if there were a person that wouldn’t have the mirror talk it would a gentleman like this one.
Big. Strong. Imposing. In command. The kind of person that enters a room and eyes fall on them. I don’t think anyone would think this guy would be the kind to have mirror talks. But that’s what made his words so powerful. Because we are all the same. The perceived strong. The perceived weak. The rich. The poor. The liberal. The conservative. The vaccinated and the unvaccinated. The black man and the white man. Though we look different on the outside, we all bleed the same.
So, that’s a lot of words to say just something simple – we are all alike, y’all. It doesn’t matter what God you pray to or what politician you voted for or whether you wore a mask or caused a scene at Walmart because you refused. We all have mirror talks. The rich. The poor. Black and white. Democrat and republican. Muslim and Christian. LSU fans and Alabama fans. Your boss. Your enemy. Your friend. The criminal and the victim.
In a world of hate and the crap I see on Facebook, I have to remember we all are the same. All of us. Everyone has mirror talks because everyone is vulnerable in those early, intimate early morning moments.
All children of God. All human beings. All flesh and the same color blood.
Mirror talks. So if I had one wish today, it would be to help me remember that every time I’m having a mirror talk that so too are you.
And that might make me a little bit better of a person. A little bit kinder. A little bit more who I know God wants me to be.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
(Josh Beavers is a teacher and award-winning journalist. He has been recognized five times for excellence in opinion writing by the Louisiana Press Association.)
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