Text

“A friend’s eye is the best mirror”

Context

My informant heard of this particular Irish proverb from an Irish teacher at his elementary school, and went home to his parents that day to inquire about its meaning. My informant interprets this proverb as meaning that only somebody that knows you well can tell you the objective truth about yourself. My informant said he took this proverb to heart and thinks about it often, but doesn’t necessarily use it much in everyday life.

My Analysis

Obviously we all have self-bias, which can cloud our own self-perception and so it’s necessary that we have a close friend or somebody who knows us well that’ll tell us the truth when we need to it. I’d never heard my informant utter this particular proverb before, so it was fascinating to be able to hear from him about the proverb itself as well his interpretation of its meaning. I realize that this particular post may be rather pithy, but this cultural piece of folklore is rather succinct in its meaning.