Is Life Like a Looking Glass?

My grandfather told me an old adage when I was young. Some things stick with a person, and this old adage has stuck with me for years. “A person lives two lives. The one we learn with and the one we live with after they learn.” To this point in my life this old adage is 100% correct.

We live and learn and learn and live. If we would take advantage of the learning experiences in life and learn what that experience is trying to teach us our lives would be greatly enlightened and maybe made easier.

Life is like a looking glass. What you see in most cases is exactly who you are. I know some people look into a mirror and see a good looking person looking back but there is always those who see a different person looking back at them than who they think they are.

My sister who has long ago passed away, never really saw the person the rest of us saw in her. She never looked further than her physical appearance but the rest of us saw a different person than she saw herself. She was heavy set and always hated how she looked. Those of us who loved her never looked at her physical appearance as being negative. We saw a very talented lady who was intelligent and had a good sense of humor. Why we always get hung up on physical appearance is beyond me.

My wife and I went to St. Louis for a few days this past two weeks. When we were there we saw the terrible saga of little Tyler Dasher played out on the television screen. He was a 13 month old boy who is mother reported to the police as being abducted from their home early in the morning of November 15. Their neighborhood was crowded with police from St. Louis and county officers and even the FBI was on hand.

The event took most of day hunting for the little boy. His body was found in some bushes, naked, bruised and alone. Our business took us away from our apartment for several hours. We returned to our room about 9:00 p.m. and found out Tyler’s mother was in police custody for the death of her little son. The next morning she was arrested for the brutal death of her little son, Tyler Dasher. She had confessed to the brutal death of her son.

I wonder what this poor unfortunate 20 year old woman sees when she looks in a mirror? Her friends were stunned this woman killed her own child. they were in shock telling reporters she was a good mother. Well Shelby Dasher, the boy’s mother saw not what her friends saw. She looked into the mirror and saw a different person. How she must of hated the person she saw.

What in heaven’s name could make a mother literally beat her child to death with their bare Hands? I’m sure this girl didn’t have a good relationship with herself. How could she think much of herself or anyone else? What in her back ground caused her to do this type of selfish diabolic act, committed on her own child? Somewhere in her life someone has to answer for the type of person she became.

Do I think people have to answer for others sins? Yes when a person either instills hate for whatever reason or develops bitterness in another that ends up in hostile acts. Well life goes on and things happen and we will never know the true reason of her violence. One day when this life is over and we will know these answers for our actions, good or bad and the real truth will be made known.

If we understood the two lives adage and learn from our mistakes, even the little ones, and redirect our lives and change, we might become the people we were meant to become.

No one can harm the man who does himself nor wrong.

Robert D. Ashford was a Marine during the cold war and is now retired, after 50 years of construction management. He is a keen genealogist and loves humor. He watches the political horizons and likes to write commentary on what’s next.