Fix the error, not the mirror

Just imagine a day without a mirror.

You're getting ready for the office, not knowing how you look. A woman dresses herself up for a party, blindly. A girl is having her hairdo or makeup done before going out to meet friends, with no clue about her looks. A dentist tries to do a root canal job on a tooth deep inside a patient's mouth, basing on what he can see and what he can't. The outcome is obvious -- a laughter or disaster.

It is impossible to live a life without a mirror. A tiny piece of glass yet it turns out to be a real buddy in our life, always telling the truth. It's rather a one-sided friendship that helps us do things right. We need a reflection in the mirror to find out the problems in our looks, dress, makeup and the way we carry ourselves. It indicates what errors need to be fixed and how. Even if there is no flaw, we need our mirror to tell: 'Go ahead and feel good'. We just cannot think of a public appearance without a mirror vetting.

How do we react after finding faults in the reflection? We don't reject the reflection. We zero in on the wrong and get it right. We work on it till the mirror agrees with the fixing. No one wants to look funny, after all.

Who does not trust a mirror? Mirror is not devised to produce a deceiving image. It reflects as it is. Even the ugliest person on the planet keeps a mirror and doesn't say: Oh no, it cannot be me or the mirror must be giving a wrong reflection to tarnish my image! There may be a few faulty mirrors that give wavy reflections. But, none buys those for use, as everybody wants to see a true reflection.

Do we ask a mirror to reflect us as we wish for? Mirror is unable to make up things. If not mad, no one will say: Mirror, mirror make an error -- show me beautiful. One can create a mirror maze, but it's only a temporary visual distortion.        

Though the media plays a far bigger role but it, in many ways, does the same job as a mirror, reflecting the good, the bad and the ugly in a society. An independent media strives to be perfect like a mirror, quickly helping people with the right information. It exposes devils, discloses evils and digs out the truth from a heap of lies in the society. News aside, it also provides views to shape any important opinion or help policymakers take right decision. And like a mirror, the lone motive of a free media is to help.

But some influential people -- crooked politicians, the corrupt and criminals -- do not like to see their reflections in the media mirror.  They doubt, publicly at least, their reflections, and angrily say: Oh no, it cannot be me, and then they go on to claim that it is a visual trick to taint their image. Instead of fixing the error, they try to fix the mirror. That's the case with all the governments that have ruled Bangladesh. And that's how crimes and problems are harboured for long till those turn grave enough to get the governments out of power in the end. Sadly though, it's the people who suffer for the denial of their reflections in a free media.

Unscrupulous leaders, ominous elements within government machinery and the top-flight corrupt fancy having the media to reflect the image they would like. But like a mirror, a free media just cannot be fixed. At worst, one can break it and live a life without a mirror. 

So, they try differently by covertly owning or manipulating a section of the media. But reflections in the controlled media are just like visual distortions to people, who always turn to free media for authentic information. A free media is after all the mirror they need.