A man is born. A man grows, and as he grows, he mimics those around him. Each time he is confronted with another human, he becomes that human. He mirrors and reflects back at that other human something resembling himself. The other humans like it when the man is like them, and the man is rewarded. He is given food and drink and connection and joy and safety.

The man sees himself in a mirror, and with every peek at the parrot looking back, the man begins to question. Who is that parrot in the mirror?

Time goes on, and the man continues to change. He has met so many people and attempted to copy and mimic some aspects of all of them. Some aspects feel more natural while other aspects fade with disuse. The man no longer knows exactly who they are emulating anymore. The man has differentiated enough from those around him that he has become a new thing. An amalgam of his environment, with all its external information, and a living embodiment of internal information encoded in his genes.

The man looks in the mirror and sees something new. He doesn't see a mimic anymore. He doesn't quite see a real person, but he sees something that might become real someday. Potentially.

Time goes by, and the man continues to mimic those around him. His circle of influential faces has lessened over the years, but he is still rewarded for saying the right things. Things he learned from mimicking, recognizing patterns, and adapting.

The man learns to argue and to think and to question. He doesn't try to mimic someone, and they don't like it. The man has many disagreements with others who simply refuse to mimic him and who he refuses to be like. The man has a picture in his head of who he is. When he looks in the mirror, the man now sees something real. He sees wrinkles and spots on his face. He sees gray hairs starting to blossom on his chin. He sees someone who has been there the whole time but was mostly hidden. A confused visage of a person with frayed edges and blurred features.

The man decides that the only way to see the real man in the mirror is for him to shed his instinct to mimic. He will have to take stock of the influences on his reflected visage.

Time marches on, and the man starts to like what he sees in the mirror. He gets kind of bored looking in the mirror and decides to start looking at the world.

With wiser eyes, the man shifts his gaze to others and sees a little bit of himself in each person. He sees himself reflected in the faces of friends and strangers alike. He judges others as he judges himself.

In an effort to see others as more of who they are to themselves and not a canvas in which to overlay his dysfunctions, the man experiments. He tries listening more intently when others talk. He accepts his dysfunctions and mitigates their destruction. He tries to accept himself more.

The man doesn't see himself in the mirror anymore. He sees a man. A man who has struggled. A man who seeks peace even in the face of consistent chaos brewing in his mind. He is somewhat detached from the man in the mirror. Almost like if he was looking at a friend he has always known.

At some point, the man forgets to mimic. He forgets to worry about what might happen if he doesn't try to copy anyone. People continue to like the man, and weirdly, the less he mimics, the more he gets the respect he no longer craves.

When he speaks, he doesn't refer to some Rolodex of prefabricated phrases and empty platitudes. He doesn't try to say the right thing; he just talks. Idioms and generational lingo are inevitable but not without internal scrutiny.

The man thinks about his thoughts and says the things he chooses to say. Sometimes. Mostly the man fails to remember to be a man. Most of the time he is still a parrot.

A man grows, and the mystery of the man in the mirror becomes less mysterious. The man sees all of humanity in the mirror, and he sees himself in all of humanity. It is all a reflection of everything and nothing at the same time. All of its significance and mundanity are showcased in shimmering photons.

*Thumbnail created using Google AI