Lessons Learned at Work

( My Window View )

All day long I sit here doing my work and keeping an eye to the picture before me, enchanting, ever changing and entertaining.  As people come upon my window which reflects like a mirror, I watch amused to see what they will do.  They invariably do something, checking out the perfection of self.  They see only the reflection of themselves while I notice their reaction to the self that they see.  My window beckons young and old and one by one they come.

Is it vanity, curiosity, insecurity?  Mothers with children running at their feet pause and quickly take a peek.  They smile or frown then turn away.  I have had ties straightened, skirts adjusted, hips swaying or swaggering, hair flipped.  This is not vanity and no mystery   and as basic and human as we all can be. I sit quietly and enjoy the view.  Would not you?

Do the Dictates of Society and the standards of perfection that they set, present us with insecurities that can’t be met?  Are these insecurities so immense that we require physical proof of our right to acceptance by a world based largely on shallow? Are those of us blessed with passable physical beauty, grateful for that Blessing?  Are we even aware that it is one?

 I wonder how those less fortunate, the not fair of face, the ragamuffins, the illiterate, you get the picture, how can they stand up and face the self-appointed judges of society who have displaced self-worth?

Ask yourself if you and I who can safely pass the critical eyes of our self centered and shallow world need the reassurance of the looking glass, how do those not so blessed achieve acceptance.  Would you and I survive with the odds stacked against us?  Would we have the strength of character even to begin with less than the perfection we have been given?

Perhaps during the course of our too busy lives, we should take the time to reflect on all the souls that we neglect!  Ask yourself if we steer away from the imperfect, the impoverished, the derelict?  Do we frown upon or pass judgement on the babies who are having babies, or stiletto heels and tight little skirts or the ragged old man who hangs out in the park, a brown bag not quite hidden under his threadbare shirt?  Do we find ourselves criticizing the frequenters of the donut shops who look like they do not need that donut?

Snap judgements are part and parcel of our society and yet we do not look any deeper to discover the history of those we would condemn.  In smug satisfaction we proudly hold up our head.  Faced with their lives, would we have managed better than them?  Just thoughts, just pondering.

The paddy wagon is dropping another load of humanity outside my window.  I often wonder just what circumstance brough them here.  What exactly is their story and would it make a difference if I knew? 

Always more questions.  Do you have them too?  Are the thoughts we sometimes have, perhaps a form of  unintended  abuse?