Any given morning, when we arise and do our ablutions, we look into our mirrors and see an image looking back at us. Even as we age, our minds seem to deceive reality, for we look at (in my case) a teenager with wavy hair, and a lot of it, none gray. But grim reality sets in if someone snaps a picture of me, and I am wondering, “Who is the old guy in that photo?”
This scenario plays itself out in many households across our fair land, as growing old is not what we ever aspired to do. But this is just an exercise in the physical appearance, and what we, in our fevered minds, believe us to be. Harmless thoughts, chased away by the aching joints and sore feet.
But not harmless are those, and including us at times, instances where we look at that image and say to ourselves, “What a good man (or woman) am I”. Most of us feel we are good moral people, acting with honor and integrity. Instead of asking the mirror, “Who is the fairest in the land?” as did that wicked queen in Snow White, we ask the reflection, “Who is the most honorable in our land?” And often, we see that picture of ourselves and believe we are the ones who qualify.
But when our actions and words belie honor, integrity and common decency, do we reflect on our moral failures and are humbled enough to change? Looking at our fractured political landscape, I wonder if some of those who have taken hatred and partisanship to the point of offending even the most tolerant of Americans ever do any soul-searching. A few examples should give us pause for thought, and even perhaps incentive to clean up our own acts.
Hillary Clinton probably looks into her mirror, and sees not a 70-year-old grandmother, but an honorable, upstanding public servant who was treated unfairly by the American electorate in 2016. Really? This person who lied to grieving families about the events in Benghazi? Honor? A high public official who flouted the rules about keeping official documents safe from hackers by having a private server for her communications? Who deleted over 30,000 emails that were sought by investigators, had hard drives scrubbed of material needed for that investigation? Who has blamed everyone but herself for her defeat in the 2016 Presidential campaign? Perhaps she should read Matthew 7:1-4; if she does, perhaps when she asks, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most honorable of all?”, the mirror might answer, “Not you!”
One person who does look into his mirror and thinks of himself as an example of moral integrity and rectitude is Robert Mueller. After all, many have praised him as a paragon of honesty and honor in the swamp of Washington, D. C. Since he has been Special Counsel to investigate Russian interference into the 2016 election, specifically to determine if there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, he has had over a year to come up with any evidence. But honor? This super lawyer stacked his investigative staff with Democrats and those who were Democratic donors (and one lawyer who one time worked for Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton). He used, at the beginning of his quest a high-ranking FBI official who had expressed, again and again, animus toward Donald Trump, both before and after the election, Peter Stzrock. Yet Mueller probably believes the mirror would look back at him and say, “You are the most honorable of all”. But his hearing must be faulty, for the image he would see would a caricature of himself, twisted and cracked like seen in a fun house mirror at the fair.
Former FBI director James Comey has been quite vocal about what he thinks about himself and his own honor and honesty. When he looks into his mirror each morning and he asks, “Who is the most honorable and honest in our land?”, Comey knows the mirror has to answer, “You, Sire! You are!” But when the Inspector General of the Justice Department’s report came, another picture of Comey emerged. Called “insubordinate”, he bypassed the usual chain of command in the Clinton email investigation, making a judgment reserved to the Attorney-General, gave Clinton a “pass” by not referring her for prosecution when he had all the evidence to do so and tried to blame President Trump for his dismissal. On his book tour, Comey has taken every opportunity to trash Trump and the administration’s policies. Much more could be said of this self-righteous former FBI man, but when he looks again into that magic mirror and asks, “Who is the most honored, honest and righteous in the land?” he might see an old man, with a long white beard and holding up a lantern, who will look out of the mirror and say, “Excuse me, Mr. Comey, I am Diogenes and I am looking for an honest man — and that is not you.”
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most talented and honorable, but underappreciated actor in Tinseltown?” “You are, Peter Fonda, you are” is the answer he thinks he hears. This actor, who seems to have traded on the talents of his father, Henry, and his older sister, Jane, for his spot in the acting world, has only one movie people can remember him in — Easy Rider. But his talents, meager as they may be, cannot shield him from his dishonorable words about the President’s 12-year-old son, Barron. Fonda, in response to the problem of illegal families being separated on the southern border of the U. S., said what needed to happen was to have Barron ripped from his mother’s arms and placed in a cage with pedophiles. Perhaps the next time Mr. Fonda faces that magic mirror, he will intone the plea about honor and talent, and the image simply turns his back on the (less than) B actor and silently walk into the distance.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, is fond of facing the TV cameras and pontificating about the state of affairs in the nation’s capital. One can imagine Chuck, each morning, looking in his magic mirror, practicing his facial expressions that convey his outrage over policies by President Trump. In these daily sessions, his question would be, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most astute, honorable and honest statesman in the land?” His mirror, in his imagination, answers each morning, “You are, Chuck, you are, of course.” But in the course of the past year and a half, this upright citizen has led the charge against every course that the President has charted. His Senate caucus has voted as he orders, with a “no” on such beneficial legislation as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which benefited more than 90% of the middle class. And in the recent and ongoing problem about the immigrant families he has shown his true colors. Immigration is, by the Constitution, the purview of the Congress to solve. Yet Chuck declared that he was not interested in Congress passing a bill to settle the issue; he openly admitted that he wanted to use the issue to “get Trump”. What will an honest magic mirror say to the good Senator the next time? Is he going to be told he is the most honorable statesman in the nation? Don’t think so, Chuck!
Space does not permit me to list all those who feel superior to the rest of us, and discuss their experience with magic mirrors. Celebrities like Robert DeNiro, Michelle Wolf, Samantha Bee and others certainly feel very good about themselves and their honor and integrity, but actions have drowned out such words of self-congratulations. So I will end with a pair of figures in this sordid tale, a duo who have, on more than one level, put the lie to being honorable and honest.
These are the two lovebirds, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Both had every reason, one supposes, to feel good about themselves. Pete had risen to head the FBI’s Counterespionage Division and headed the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email problem. Lisa was also a high achiever, becoming a lawyer who advised the Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, no mean accomplishment. Pete and Lisa would have their own version of a magic mirror to ask, “Who is the fairest of them all?” and no doubt, after such a rise in government circles, would expect the swift answer, “You are the fairest of them all!” Yet Pete and Lisa, married to others, would begin and continue an affair, betraying the vows of fidelity each had made to their respective spouses. More than that, when working on the Clinton and Trump investigations, these two, supposedly neutral in their work to find the truth, exchanged thousands of texts and emails, not only proclaimed their undying love for each other, but showed incredible bias in the work of investigating wrongdoing in government. My guess is that now, when looking into their magic mirror in the morning, and asking the usual, “Who in Washington has the most integrity and is the most honest?” the mirror would simply shatter at the sheer gall that anyone with such a history would ask that question and expect to be gratified by a favorable answer.
We would not be best served as a nation if all of us walked around in sackcloth and ashes, claiming to be unworthy of any praise. But we need to be honest with ourselves about our own shortcomings, to be “true to self”.
But those who are in a position of power and influence in our society seem to believe in their own superior honesty and integrity, denigrating any who do not agree with them. Although none really possess a true magic mirror, it is not fantasy to believe that those mentioned (and many more) feel they are our moral superiors. They hear the answer to those words in the fairy tale, “You are the fairest in the land, you are!” But we know better. How much more anyone in authority could contribute to the betterment of America if a little humility and honest self-assessment were seen.