The president and the reflecting pool
Among his critics, one of the most common observations of President Donald Trump is that he tends to frame everything in terms of himself and is unable to see himself as others might see him, or to consider points of view different from his own. This is often known as “narcissism.” The term, derives, of course, from the Greek legend of Narcissus. What can that tell us about, say, the reflecting pool disaster and the president’s puzzling insistence on a clearly flawed explanation?
As the myth has it, Narcissus was a beautiful and charismatic boy-man, an eternal boy who never grew up. The story goes that he was out hunting one day and came upon a glistening pool in the midst of a forest. Thirsty, he lay down to drink and was at once entranced with the face before him. Not realizing that it was simply his own reflection, he fell in love and leaned out to kiss the image. But every time he tried, the face simply dissolved into ripples. Frustrated but obsessed, he was unable to tear himself away and over time grew weaker and weaker, losing all connection with reality until, some accounts have it, he threw himself into the reflecting pool and drowned.
Myths are often thought to be untrue, divorced from reality. But an event that we describe as “mythic” may hold a deeper truth. What might our current story of “The President, a Reflecting Pool, and the Quest for Reality” reveal to us?