Photo of the Day: Reflection

What do you think of when you hear the word "reflection"? Probably a mirror, right? A mirror, at least in modern times, provides the truest, the most accurate, the realest reflection. You can see a reflection of some kind in many shiny surfaces - the bowl of a spoon, the surface of a calm lake, a well-polished pot lid - but unless that surface is smooth and flat, the reflection will be distorted and uneven. If the surface is cloudy, or bumpy, or moving, the reflection you see does not accurately represent whatever it reflects.

Another sense of the word "reflection," however, means looking in at oneself; thinking about one's life and one's actions; self-examination. Such reflection is rarely as clear as the reflection of one's image in a smooth mirror. A truer representation of that kind of reflection is a rippling pool, a cracked mirror, an imperfect piece of metal. Our thoughts are as ever-changing as the lights dancing on the surface of moving water, as fragmented as a shattered bit of glass, as warped as a dented tin can.

But even with those damaged and imperfect vessels, we can still see glimpses of the truth, if we look hard enough.

Reflection.