Ok, so this post might “date” me a bit. How many of you out there remember the show Quantum Leap? I LOVED that show! I mean, my middle brother and I had our regular faves: Dukes of Hazzard and Facts of Life . . . but Quantum Leap–oh my! I couldn’t miss an episode of it! I was heartbroken when it wasn’t on because of a scheduling problem and I couldn’t believe when they actually took it off the air! Do you remember this show?
Well, for the underpriviledged, let me give you the premise: the main character, Sam, was a scientist/experimenter of sorts. During an experiment with time travel, Sam finds himself each week back in a different time period. The catch: he’s in the body of another person and no one, except the audience, and his invisible sidekick, Al, knows he is not the actual person. The only way we, as the audience saw what the real character looked like was when Sam would look at his reflection in the mirror. Then we knew if he was a 15 year old boy, a champion boxer, a police detective, a bank robber, etc. Al, carrying his handheld information device, would assist Sam into knowing if the actions he was performing were changing the outcome for the better or for worse. It was a cool show and I loved how each episode left us with the transformation from one “body” and time period into the next. It made for a great conversation topic as to what might happen in the next episode.
What I loved about it was the fact that first of all, Sam was just a really decent, moral guy and he was trying to make people’s lives better. I also enjoyed the friendship between Sam and Al as they tried to conquer the poor decisions in each episode. They played off each other so well. But the coolest part was the fact that in my head, I had an idea of what Sam’s “real character” would look like until he looked in the mirror and then my perception was changed. The image I had in my head of what the character looked like differed, sometimes, drastically, from the reality. What a cool show!
I enjoy well-developed characters, whether it’s in a book or a movie, even if they are the antagonist. A well-developed character can make or break the outcome and success or failure of a storyline. I wonder how I would feel if I were Sam in Quantum Leap. I wonder what I would think or expect to see in the mirror staring back at me. So, since I don’t have that luxury of time travel like Sam did, I spend my time in reflective thought from time to time. Now, I wonder, what do people see in me? Do they see the same thing I see when I look back in the mirror?
Let me see if I can give a little anecdote to clarify. I have a son with Down Syndrome. I always wonder about his life and what he will do with the abilities God has given him. I know people see Down Syndrome, but I see my beautiful, talented, and healthy son. I wonder what he will be like in high school and into his adult years. I want people to love him, not pity him. I want him to have lots of friends and have genuine companionship. I want him to have a great and fulfilling life, making his own mark on society in his unique and special way. I want people to be kind to him and I can’t help when strangers stare at him, being five-years-old and still not potty trained and talking with obvious speech difficulties (although, I’m becoming more numb to it as time goes on). I spoke with a teacher friend of mine about this once and she had a great outlook on her view of herself as a teacher. Her own son had a difficult time in high school, for different reasons and my friend just said, “I’ve always hoped that I’m the kind of teacher to my students that I would want for my own son. I would hope that I’m kind and caring to my students, like I expected my son’s teachers to have been.”
My point? I hope that I’m the kind of teacher to my students that I wish for my children. I hope my reflection truly shows what I think I’m projecting. Be the person you want to be attracted to. In other words, if you expect someone to be kind, are you being kind to others? If you want someone to be supportive of you, are you being supportive of them? If you want your spouse to be more loving, are you being more loving to your spouse? If you want children who speak to you with respect and kindness, do you treat them with kindness in your words?
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? I mean REALLY looked. I don’t spend much time in front of the mirror, for several reasons . . . but I do want to be aware of what people see when they look at me . . . and not in the physical sense either.
Look in the mirror and what do you see? Is your reflection what you want it to be? What’s in your mirror?
