IMan in the Window
Is he looking in or is he looking out? Or is he looking at his own reflection in the window as the B-reel street scene runs its daily sequence behind him ...busses, cars, taxis, cue the people on the sidewalk. Street sounds, audio. Or is he looking at the restaurant scene behind the window in front of him playing itself out in silence? People eating, talking. He can’t hear what they’re saying, the people inside, but they see him. He wants something but we’re not sure what. Maybe he’s lost in thought, reflecting, looking for truth, that elusive, emotional fact that we all seek and prize, the Holy Grail of life from which we receive piece of mind and satisfaction ...and sometimes heartache and pain ...love and love lost.
Maybe he’s just simply checking his hair, his profile. His ego. A thoughtless vanity. ”We can see you!”
Maybe the man is not looking at anything in particular, he’s seeking nothing. He’s just passing the time and happens to be there in the moment. He’s not waiting on a lady, maybe he’s just waiting on a friend. What we are sure of, however, is that we are all looking at him. Why? What is our fascination with this man in the window? What does he want ...who is he? Why is he looking at us ...is he even looking at us? We can’t be sure because of the reflection.
We turn off the television set, flat screen, our Kindle, and we are looking at our own dark reflection in that hollow window of no return, the window to which we return often to not return again. We walk by, on our way, seeing a mannequin in a store window staring out blankly, expressionless, but wearing the new Ostrich skin jacket that he wants us to buy. He can’t speak, but we know what he wants. “Hey, check this out! You can look like this too.” Ego. We enter, like the proverbial dog in Aesop’s fable with the bone in his mouth looking at his reflection in the lake. We look at our reflection in the store window. We want that. And, like the dog who drops his bone to go after the reflected bone, we drop our modesty to go after the Ostrich jacket losing all reason rather than being content with the jacket we have. It’s a dangerous vanity.
The man in the window is alone. He’s alone on a city street or on a country road to chose his own identity, his own destiny. Perhaps the road less traveled. It’s his choice. He’s alone in a movie theatre, a class room, in church, a library, in front of his television ...alone in an electric crowd that can influence his identity and destiny ...his choices and opinions ...his truth, conscience and consequences.
The man in the window is all of us at one time or another, all seeking truth at one time or another as it applies to the wellbeing of our ego. (Ego: a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance). Time, like truth, is a fluid mix of fact, opinion, interpretation, relativity and faith, with just a pinch of redaction.
If you want to know more about yourself, your ego, the man in the window and what he’s looking at, read ‘A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose‘ by Eckhart Tolle, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76334.A_New_Earth not to be confused with Werner Erhard founder of EST (Erhard Seminars Training). My wife and many of my friends have read Tolle’s book. My daughters have read it. They all say, “Really, dad needs to read this.” I don’t think I will. My ego won’t let me. It’s either my good reasoning or my blunted sensitivities. My wife and oldest daughter got into an argument over Easter dinner about what an “ego” is, who has one and who has not, and who has the biggest ego. They still aren’t talking to one another.
No self-help for me, thank you, I am both helpless and hopeless. I’ll stick to the grounded safety of reading Craig Johnson and C. J. Box aka Walt Longmire and Joe Pickett.
So, as your fellow ‘man in the window’ looking for the truth where it’s most important, where it counts the most, like for our families and friends, our country, our future generations and our good Earth, let’s try to retain or sensibilities and keep our egos in check. Let’s not be bought off, bought out or fooled by false promises, lies and the liars who tell them. Let’s try harder to see and identity things as they are and not how we bend and break them to be ...breaking them beyond recognition. Let’s call ‘em like we see ‘em and be honest about it adjusting our egos toward a more sensible reasoning when it comes to things like electing our leaders and choosing our heros, and balancing our material wants, needs and desires.
The man in the window can save us from ourselves because he is our best self. Let’s invite him in and see what he wants.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
