Musings on Mirrors

Mirrors on a leaf

Every single drop of water on the lotus leaf is a beautiful reflection of yourself. However, the size of the droplet determines the curvature of the droplet: the larger droplets have trouble staying spherical. This in turn provides a range of mirrors to view yourself.

You know from a distance that the reflections on the drops hold detail to yourself; yet if you are lazy, these details would elude you.

Every new droplet you encounter is enthralling, if not for the different shape, then for the way it sits differently on the leaf. However, you always still see your own reflection somewhere along the way.

I like to think of the drops of water as friends of various social capacities. The larger ones would be the more generous friends who would show you more of yourself.

I am but a small drop now. The reflections of the rest of the world on me are still too small to be visible. The clear details I add to the collection are but my own: I see myself in others but others can't see themselves in me.

The dent I make on the leaf is fairly small and so I can be anywhere without significantly changing the arrangement of the droplets.

Some droplets live for other droplets. The see merely the other droplets on the leaf but not realize the leaf which supports this social network.

Others try hard to cluster into a larger droplet so that they can commandeer more mass and curve the leaf, thus dictating the movement of neighboring droplets.

I don't collect easily with other groups of droplets. I find it difficult to move around if I did. I would prefer milling about some portion of the leaf appreciating the local intricacies below me. But then again, I lead a "narrow" existence, as many others would educate me.

However, a spattering of droplets on a leaf would yield droplets of all sizes. My tiny size is but a member of the inevitable distribution.

I am not the one to reflect on the outlook and behavior of another droplet. Just like I'm not the one to tell you who you should be and how you should behave. I'm just not aptly shaped for such a task. I'm merely content in discovering my true self.

My small footprint in this leaf also makes it difficult to see myself. This constraint, however, changes my outlook: for I am constantly seeking a suitable droplet to mirror myself.