The Man in the Mirror

         A man looks into the mirror and wonders who is looking back.  His brain tells him that it’s just his reflection but he can’t be so sure.  The man in the mirror looks nothing like the man he remembers from the last time he looked. When first he looked in the mirror, which seemed so long ago, he saw a man full of life, passion, and determination.  This first man knew who he was and what he stood for.  The man from the first look was confident and not only thought, but knew he could be the best.  This first man was strong and invincible, with courage unmatched.  As he continues to stare at the mirror he realizes that the man he remembers from the first time he looked so long ago is the man that she fell in love with.  The man who now sits in his gaze is nothing like that first man.  This second man is pale and sickly, with no apparent life in him at all.  He looks like his soul has been ripped from his chest in one swift blow, and his courage and determination have been ripped out with it.  Yes, the man he now sees is nothing more than a shadow of what was once a much different individual.  He looks out of the world almost as if he no longer exists the way he once did.  As he continues to stare at this new version of him, he begins to grow disgusted with the image.  At this point the man calls out “Who are you?”  The image doesn’t answer.  He repeats “Who are you?  Answer me!”  For the second time the image says nothing back and the man looks deeper into the eyes of this person in the mirror and becomes upset and crass.  “You’re nothing, that’s what you are.” He says vehemently at this poser in the mirror.  “You can’t be me.”  But as this man continues to look he realizes that the person in the mirror is him.  He’s gone from being determined to be the best and strong on his own, and has turned into a sniveling baby.  This current man in the mirror is not who she fell in love with.  That’s what keeps coursing through his mind.  She fell in love with the man from the first look, so long ago.  “Where has that first man gone,” he wonders to himself.  The person in the mirror just continues staring back with those lonely and empty eyes which were once so full of ambition.