Looking at the stranger in the mirror, I looked back at the journey that had brought us to this separate reality. I looked hard to find the young boy, looking at the world from behind his mother’s sari, in amazement at all the wondrous things around him. I tried to find the young school boy; who was the first to raise his hand in Mrs. Hala’s class, eager to answer the questions, on obscure geography topics, and couldn’t see him. I looked for the singles tennis champion of his college; who was fit and healthy and could not recognize this stranger, who stared back at me old and greying. I look for myself and find a hollow fragment instead.
Life is full of change and we remain trapped in our old reality, while everything around us has moved on. We become strangers to ourselves; as what we are, is not what we believe we are. Slowly the journey over the years shreds us of our innocence, and our enthusiasm for life. There is no more the wonder of it all; but just the need to get on with it, and to survive another day. Slowly a cynicism builds up; that repeated blows from our family, friends, co-workers and society, have caused to harden our hearts, and lose our souls.
Relationships change and the people we love are lost in time, and people we hate are constantly in our face. We allow ourselves to remain trapped in this deep well of unhappiness and despair, when a single step could take us away from it all. The will to build new loving relationships, becomes too overwhelming; as the energy to start a new one is dormant, and we do not even bother to repair the ones, which we already have. The love we wish to receive has vanished; as we no longer are ready to give, the love that others around us deserve.
Mother Nature has nourished us and given us life; and we see her destruction all around us, and walk on with bowed heads, ignoring her pain and anguish. We look up to the heavens at night and do not see the magnificence of our universe, but just another sleepless night, as we wander alone. We walk past ancient life forms and in our greed, slowly cause the mass destruction of species and environments, that are only there, for our own evolution to succeed. We do not bow down to the laws of nature and defy the only one, who can wipe us out in a moment of wrath.
My journey is not new and the stranger has not become so, in one day. We look at each other and realize that a life has passed between us, and we have slipped into its cracks. We are no longer relevant to the scheme of things; not because we are ignorant, but because we have allowed our base nature to take over. The journey of enlightenment has been short circuited by our own weakness, and our lack of trying and following the easy path traveled by others around us. We measure our success and failures against a measuring stick of what others have achieved, and often find ourselves wanting. We become distant from our own reality, till one day we look at this hollow stranger peering back at us in the mirror.
It is time now to rekindle the hope that we had as the eager young kid; peering around his mother’s legs, and show our world that not all is lost. It is time now to raise the hand and become that teacher, who allows young brains to think and flourish at the wonder of it all. It is time again to become physically active, as a health body and mind are our birthright, and we must shine the light for others. Reinventing our story; we will reinvent our stranger, and we can become kindred spirits again. As I turn away he winks and a joy rises from deep within me, as I know that all happiness is not lost, but just a mindset away. We have to discipline ourselves as life is never easy; but with a little effort, it can become fruitful again. See yourself as powerful and strong; and you will be able to harness the forces of nature, to become what you think.
Unleashing our energy for the truth; will lead to a renaissance; which will benefit this strange relationship, between us and our alter ego. As we walk a step in the right moral direction, the universe will become more in harmony with our march. As we study the mysteries of this universe; more will be revealed to us, than we can imagine. We only have to live in a pure, unsullied, trained mind, and all else will fall into place. The heart will blossom with love for our fellow creatures and relationships will become enjoyable again. I beseech you to look closely at that stranger in the mirror; and then see, what only you know him to truly be. I assure you that then all our dreams will come alive again, and we can take our first step towards an ideal life.