There are people who have never looked in a mirror. Never seen a selfie, or gazed into a still pool of water. The lack of visual reference does nothing to slow down their day of course. There are still chores to do, and bodies to wash. But having an accurate picture of their own features eludes them.
What happens when we have no idea? No awareness of the shape of our own nose? Probably spots of mustard on your chin go unattended. The market for mascara would plummet.
Having young children is like owning a mirror that doesn't crack. One time my small daughter stared up at me when I was raging around the kitchen banging pots in protest.
"You look like the witch in Shirley Temple." It was not an accusation. Just an observation. More to herself than to me, but it stung like a scorpion.
I have a notion that there isn't a market for looking glass in most of the animal kingdom. No beauty contests either, and not for a lack of stunning eyes and fur. Mammals seem to fill their time with caring for young and avoiding predators with little left over for personal adornment. Birds, I'll grant you, spend inordinate amounts of energy pruning.
But as far as I can tell animals are born having already reached their potential. They have no need to reflect, repent, and choose differently. By contrast we people need precisely those strategies in order to rise above self absorption.
The witch who hated Snow White made sure that the mirror only showed what flattered her. But if I limit my own reflections to fawning ones who knows what blemishes will follow me to my grave.
