Can you see the real you?

The soundtrack for this piece can be found here

Here's something I only noticed recently. As with so many things, it's probably blindingly obvious to other people, but I guess I'm a late learner... What occurred to me the other day, then, after 46 years of self-reflection, is that either I don't see the real me, or, depending on your perspective, no-one else does. What I see almost all the time is a mirror-image, which is ever so slightly, but distinctly, different. (I realized this when I accidentally inverted an image for my home-page, and noticed that it seemed much better, by which I mean, more familiar. Most photographs seem wrong somehow, not the face I know, but no-one else's either.) Unless one is blessed with perfect bilateral symmetry, we all look that bit different. And so the face I believe I present to the world is just not what people see. Here are two examples to illustrate: in each case, the first (a) photo shows the outsiders' view, the second picture what we each see in the mirror. It's not much, but there's a world of difference...especially beneath the surface.

A. Sean, as we see him.

B. Sean, as he sees himself.

A. Julian, as we see him.

B. Julian, as he'll see himself.

(Of course, the children are stunning, whatever way you look at them :))

PS. For further evidence, if you click on my profile picture (top left) you'll see the "improved picture" on my home-page. (I know where the door really is, and on which wrist I wear a watch...)

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