Riddles and Reflections

When first I appear, I seem mysterious, but when I'm explained, I'm nothing serious...

 What am I?                                                           

I have always loved this riddle, ever since I was young. Not only because it appears in my favorite audio production at the time, The Song of the Unicorn, nor because of its later recurring appearance in what became my favorite musical, Into the Woods. Rather I loved it because of its elegance and simplicity. The fact that its answer was in its very nature, that                                the answer was its own name. 

                                                                                                         A Riddle. 

I am myself when I become my opposite...what am I?

This is a riddle I composed myself, far too vague to catch on anywhere as a mind-boggling masterpiece, but interesting enough to consider here. The answer is a reflection. When you take the opposite of a mirror image, what you actually have is the original form, which would in turn be a reflection of the "self" in the riddle- the first reflection. The original form of the riddle that I wrote was this:

 My shape becomes yours when I become my opposite. But if I become myself a second time, I will also take your form. 

This version was dumped because frankly, the other was shorter and more poetic. In this draft though, you add yourself into the equation. And now we get to the point of all this. 

    
Is it odd to think that the opposite of your reflection is you? Isn't it supposed to be that when you look in the mirror you see yourself? Or even in the Mulan-esque moments when you know you won't see yourself, shouldn't you be seeing more than the opposite? At least more that the strict contradiction of everything that you are? Well luckily mirrors and reflections have value and don't show only the opposite, save in direction. But it begs the question, how much distortion does a mirror give us? or any reflection? And how much power should something so distorted be allowed to have?

Fortunately, and unfortunately, we are the ones who decide how much power we grant to such a thing, and often times it is too much. You can read countless stories or blogs on what giving power to the society-distorted image of a perfect reflection can do to women, but I would like to focus on a different kind of reflection: the one you give off of your character and self. It can be one of the most powerful reflections, and it can easily become distorted.

Any reflection should reflect you, not the opposite of you. What you reflect to others of your character, should be who you are. We need to be careful of two things in this: We must not reflect a false self. And we should be cautious that we are not projecting ourselves in a way that is easily misinterpreted.

Often we reflect negative emotions that sometimes bounce off us, coming from other's negativity, and sometimes originate in our heart. If we do so constantly, the reflection of a moment will combine to form in our audience's eyes the reflection of a person. Any "projection" will do this. Have you seen inception? The projections were creations that came from the character's mind, and became reality (in the dream). What we project will become to others the reality of who we are. 

We also need to take heed in this area because the Bible tells us that what we have in our hearts will spillover outwardly. We may think that people are only misinterpreting what we reflect, but the "reflection" is truly going to be the overflow of our hearts, which reveals who we are, and it's important to know who you are. The false self issue is an even longer discussion, one that your English and philosophy classes might cover in studying "identity" as mine did, but this has become much more than I intended and I fear if I continue I will never finish. What I want to leave you with is just the inkling of this idea. I want to make you think, not tell you what to think or how. 

If you have any points you would like to add, criticisms or sparks to begin discussion, comment below.

  The Story Weaver                                                                                                  
  Lace A. Narrator