The Mirror and the Painter
A struggling painter stood before a mirror and cried, “It is not fair! No amount of cleverness with a brush could ever result in works so flawless as the images that you so effortlessly reflect.”
On hearing the painter's complaint, the mirror could stay silent no more, and spoke thus: “Quit your whining! Whereas my fate is to reflect with absolute fidelity whatsoever of the world appears before me, your heart may choose what you depict. And although my images are indeed without flaw, they may only show what is already there. Your flaws and lacks, on the other hand, are like seeds planted in the soil of your heart, seeds whose growth is the growth of the world itself. Want proof? Hold your labor's fruits up to my glass and I must reflect them as perfectly as anything else.”