Seeing Life in Reverse

As my little grandson grows up, it appears his reflection
is not the only thing he'll be viewing in reverse.

Have you ever considered the fact we spend a substantial amount of time looking at our lives in reverse?

When I was a kid, I used to read Superman comics that sometimes featured “Bizarro World,” in which characters there were the exact opposite of the “real world” of Metropolis. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about mirror images – literally.

Next time you have the opportunity, take a thoughtful look in the mirror. What do you see? For me, my hair is parted on the left, but the guy staring back at me in the mirror parts his on the right. I wear a watch on my left wrist; his is on the right. If I have on one of my favorite T-shirts, it reads, ETATS OIHO. See what I mean?

Of course our brains become trained to reinterpret the reflected image so we don’t become immobilized by confusion. We mentally flip what we see so can we interpret things as they we know them to be. If we pretend to be throwing a ball with our right hand, we don’t perceive ourselves in the mirror as southpaw pitchers.

But it seems that in society, we’re not always as successful. Things that used to be regarded as good and virtuous – such as being monogamous in marriage and devout in faith – are increasingly viewed with ridicule or disdain, viewed as “old-fashioned,” even “ignorant.” Morality has been flipped.

For instance, today it’s regarded “courageous” when people declare themselves to be gay, but when someone affirms belief in traditional, male-female marriage, it’s considered being hateful and “intolerant.”

Economist, social theorist and author Thomas Sowell has pointed out many in society consider it “greed” to want to keep money you’ve earned, but not being greedy (or coveting, or jealous) to want to take someone else’s money.

Many think it wrong for people of faith to express their beliefs in a public forum, but it’s acceptable for atheists to impose their non-belief on others by suppressing religious expression.

In sports, it’s widely understood that to become more proficient, you must compete with someone of greater skill or talent. But in our educational system, we set standards at the lowest common denominator so poor achievers don’t feel badly about themselves.

The point is, we’ve grown so accustomed to reversed, mirror images of long-accepted values we’ve come to accept them as reality.

Such attitudes are hardly new. People have always had a tendency to look at things backwards. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, the prophet bemoans, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

And in the New Testament, after describing an assortment of sinful behavior, it says, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).

Considering how society has reversed attitudes about many things today, maybe we are living in Bizarro World!