The Idea of You

(Photo Credit: Bart Cayusa)

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Most would respond, “ I see myself” or “my reflection” or “me.”

When we look at that reflection- those facial features, that smile, hair, jaw-line, and that physique… this is how we recognize ourselves.

This is how you perceive  “Me.”

What if the next time you looked into a mirror, you didn’t see what you know to be you…what if you saw someone else?

Would you freak out and declare: “this is not me?”

What if you got into an accident tomorrow, and couldn’t recognize yourself in the mirror?

Would you know who you were, without seeing those physical features that you get so used to knowing to be yourself?

Finally, imagine that there were no such thing as a physical representation of you.

I thought long and hard as to, if there was no physical representation of myself, what I would be.

I decided that I would be nothing more than an idea, like that of love, hate, and selflessness. I would be nothing more than gravity, or the wind.

I thought long and hard, that if I WERE an idea, and if I were to put the idea of me, next to millions of other ideas of different people, would I be able to recognize myself? Would I be able to definitively know that the exact idea I was observing was in fact all that makes up who I am?

Would I be an idea that conveyed something good- like love, generosity, and selflessness, and passion? Maybe all mixed together?

Would I be an idea that conveyed selfishness, pride, hate, lust, envy, jealousy, or immorality?

Or would I be something just kind of there, like gravity, or the wind?

I would hope that I would be a good idea- a great idea. I think what I’m trying to get at, is that you are more than who you see in the mirror day in and day out. Who you are isn’t just that physical person, but what you stand for, stand up for, stand against. It’s your soul, what you believe and believe in, and the conscience that gives you the ability to make choices in life for better or worse.

If all we were stripped down to is that one idea, I hope that you would be something worthwhile, something notable, and something amazing that has the power to inspire others with the idea of yourself.