I found an old mirror the other day, and I saw something in it I had not seen before

[The Straight Story]

Often we see reflected back at us simply what is. But that which we cannot see is often more relevant than that which we do.

Here in the mirror I saw more than my ugly mug. Much more.

I was the hope of an expectant mother once. I was the joy on a parent's face on Christmas morning. I was a friend to some folks who had no other friend. The eyes staring back at me came from the love of two people, the soul within me behind those eyes sprang from a moment of passion.

I was something special to two special people. I was their love, their hope, I was their dream in this world.

And as I looked more I saw me now. A daddy. The hope and joy of a little girl. The husband to a wonderful wife. What once was created in love has itself created in love a new life.

I have seen all the hopes and joys that were hope for for me. I have seen all the pain over the years, and felt the hugs of others when I needed them. And I have been there for others when they most needed me.

Then I saw the future. I saw someone like me, looking into that same mirror. The story was shared between us and our lives.

And I saw me laying down on a warm couch to cuddle my daughter and watch a cartoon.

Then I saw the other guy. Laid down in a casket draped with an American flag, flying home from Iraq in a cargo hold.

His mirror has went dark. His future dreams, hopes, and loves erased.

And as I kiss my little girl goodnight, I fear inside to look into that mirror again - for what the future holds for us all. And all I can do is weep.

PS: I wrote this in honor of:
Nathan Given
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2986623

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. K&R..........

Beautifully written, my dear Straight Story.......

Just incredibly beautiful!

This must get on The Greatest Page!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[rubberducky]

2. What a beautiful post!!

This must come from a beautiful soul!! K&R

[madokie]

3. peace

[Xipe Totec]

4. Schopenhauer…points out

that when you reach an advanced age and look back over your lifetime, it can seem to have had a consistent order and plan, as though composed by some novelist. Events that when they occurred had seemed accidental and of little moment turn out to have been indispensable factors in the composition of a consistent plot. So who composed that plot? Schopenhauer suggests that just as your dreams are composed by an aspect of yourself of which your consciousness is unaware, so, too, your whole life is composed by the will within you. And just as people whom you will have met apparently by mere chance became leading agents in the structuring of your life, so, too, will you have served unknowingly as an agent, giving meaning to the lives of others. The whole thing gears together like one big symphony, with everything unconsciously structuring everything else… one great dream of a single dreamer in which all the dream characters dream, too;… Everything arises in mutual relation to everything else, so you can’t blame anybody for anything. It is even as though there were a single intention behind it all, which always makes some kind of sense, though none of us knows what the sense might be, or has lived the life that he quite intended.

- Joseph Campbell

As quoted by John Briggs and F. David Peat, in their book "The Turbulent Mirror"

:hi:

[lonestarnot]

5. Thanks Straight Story.

:patriot:

[Rick Myers]

6. Wonderful. Thank you. This has hit Janet and myself very hard!!!

Godspeed.

[vixengrl]

7. Damn, Straight Story,

very poignant.

[renie408]

8. This is wonderfully done. Powerful and thoughtful. Thanks. n/t

[H2O Man]

9. Well done. n/t

[The Straight Story]

14. Thanks my friend

That means a lot coming from you :)

[Lochloosa]

10. k

[Th1onein]

11. Thank you so much.

That is very beautiful. And a quite different way of looking at the world, and ourselves in it.

Thank you.

Melanie

[TomInTib]

12. Thank you for sharing this, TSS. For each and every underdog Soldier in the night

That was just wonderful.

But it is a damn shame that you had to write it.

[The Straight Story]

13. Indeed my friend

A damned shame our country is in this mess.

I hope to god this war ends soon, and we get our folks home. If we want to stay and stabilize things then I suggest we send bush and his family and rich friends there to do it. let them die for what they believe in, not others.

[Bullwinkle925]

15. For all the Natan Given's of this world -

thanks so very much for sharing.

Peace be with us all.

[LaraMN]

16. That's a beautiful reminder of the significance of a single human life.

It's easy to forget the place and potential of each human being that is lost, when what hear most often are cold statistics. Not one more person- American, Iraqi, or otherwise- should die to forward Bush's agenda.

[Synnical]

17. Wow - thanks

Shouldn't ruin a girl's make-up like that first thing in the morning, though. :cry:

Heartfelt condolences to the family.

[shireen]

18. touching words

i wonder if bush and the other evildoers who brought us this war are capable of loving a child. Perhaps they have feelings for their own families, but everyone else must be an abstraction to them. The rest of us can't be real flesh and blood human beings to them, just props in the grand neocon pantomime of their lives.

I hate them.

[Generic Other]

19. i wish for you that the mirror reflect peace

for the future

and love for the present

[BluePatriot]

20. K&R!

[malaise]

21. Lovely post

Thanks.

[Irishonly]

22. Thank You

It's one of the most beautiful things I have read. I cried for all of us.

[AikidoSoul]

23. This is really beautiful and moving. Am sending this to my daughter.

But I do have one teensy, weensy complaint. As a former English communication arts major -- I gotta suggest a small change: His mirror has GONE dark... would be better. But otherwise the entire thing is freaking perfect and very moving.

[The Straight Story]

24. DOH!

Too late for me to change it now ;)

But duly noted for future reference, and thank you kindly.

[AikidoSoul]

25. Thank you yourself... and keep this up will ya?

You have talent for words that should be developed.

[colorado_ufo]

26. Bless you.

[Joanne98]

27. That was beautiful! I'm going to cry!

;(

[ceile]

28. Beautiful! n/t

[Chalco]

29. Crying, thank you. nt

[Johnny Noshoes]

30. The candle

I know its a quote from an old Tv show but it expresses how I feel right now.


Sheridan, "What does the candle represent?"
Delenn, "Life."
Sheridan, "Who's life?"
Delenn, "All life, every life. We are all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars. Molecules that do not understand politics, polices, or differences. Over a billion years, we foolish molecules forgot who we are and where we came from. In desperate acts of ego, we give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps, and pretend that our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that lives on inside of us. The spark, that tells us, you should know better. The flame also reminds us, that life is precious, as each flame is unique and when it goes out, it's gone forever. There will never be another quite like it. So many candles will go out tonight. I wonder sometimes, if we can see anything at all."

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng

[The Straight Story]

33. Beautiful

Thanks for posting that.

[Vektor]

31. Hey Straight -

I've noticed on more than one occasion that you have posted a few self-deprecating comments, like "my ugly mug" and so forth...

I've sure that the lovely wife you speak of with such fondness, who is the mother of your child, thinks you are beautiful, so let's have no more of that talk! :-)

Those who matter love the sight of you, I'm sure.

That aside - very moving post.

[The Straight Story]

32. Thanks friend

my wife thinks I am handsome. She has dated many fine guys in here life out in CA, the buff, the doctors, the lawyers, they all have a thing for red heads. But somehow she ended up settling down with the computer geek who was too dumb to even know she was asking me out.

I'm no Johnny Depp, but as long as she is happy with me I suppose I must have something going for me.

Thanks for the kind words.

[Vektor]

35. No problem!

Sounds like your wife saw something in you that all those other jag-offs were lacking! :-)

Here's to smart ladies who know how to pick a good man! :toast:

[The Straight Story]

36. Smart ladies are the best!

I hope you have a wonderful new year!

[Vektor]

37. You too.

The best to you and your family! :hi:

[Fovea]

34. Blessings

on you and your house!