You ever wonder?

You ever wonder if the person looking back at you in the mirror might be a different you? That maybe you are nothing more than the reflection. Gets you thinking, doesn't it? Makes you wonder, and then you start to question whether or not everything might be a dream.

What if we are just a dream? Would that make life any easier? Or would it more so be throwing a blanket over life, acting like what's there doesn't count. Sorta like a kid who sees castles and dragons, and pretends he's a knight ready to slay one and climb the other to save the beautiful princess.

When you think about it, life being a dream doesn't make life any easier, no. All that really does is make it easier for people to escape (their) responsibility? I mean, I know a few people who that's what they're most looking for. For a way to pass the baton, and to live life carefree-- like that 8-year old playing knight, and saving princesses.

Of course, they never care to wonder what that means for the person (or people) who have to pick the baton up. And that's what makes me wonder why people are so easily willing to not want responsibility.

Perhaps it's the aforementioned desire to never grow up-- Peter Pan, and Neverland. But there, arguably, everyone is dead. They have no responsibility because it doesn't matter then, and that's sad, but most don't think to that degree, because thinking to that degree means that you have to take responsibility for something, or at least understand the consequences of not.

I do find it funny that when we were kids, we wanted responsibility. (At least I remember wanting it in some kind of child wanting what they can't.) And now, I see so many people (millennials, and people of varying ages) who would rather be the 8-year old. They'd rather be in Neverland than having to be responsible for the smallest thing, and I suppose it's fear. Fear of failing. And that is understandable. No one wants to fail, because failing hurts and it stings, and you don't forget it for a good while.

But that's good-- that sting. Samuel Beckett said, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Failing is how we learn. That "sting" is our brain reminding us of where/how we were wrong, and to not do it again. You won't find someone who's great at something, but has never failed at said great thing. They've probably failed far more times than anyone at it, and each failure they learned from and used it to better themselves.

And I think that's why so many would rather be that 8-year old who pretends to be slaying dragons and saving princesses... because they're afraid they won't like what they see in the mirror. And they fear that what'll be looking back is someone they don't want to take responsibility for; a failure they've allowed to fester; a failure that they don't know they can correct, because they've never had to before.

So take stock of yourself. Take responsibility in making yourself better, so the next time you look in the mirror, you're not wondering if that reflection is a different you. No, instead you see a you that you're proud of; a you that you can take pride in looking in the eyes; a you that makes you smile.