Self-Aware Past Midnight

Self-Awareness is the basis for empathy. And this isn't fortune cookie speak, it's science speak.

Mirror self recognition is a test of self awareness and cognition used in animal studies. Studies have shown that elephants recognize the fact that the image in the mirror is their own self and such abilities are considered the basis for empathy, altruism, and higher social interactions. Besides elephants, this ability has only been shown in humans, apes, and bottlenose dolphins. Coincidentally, these are the three things I will not eat.

A careful reading of the lyrics to Mike Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” indicates that he might lack this level of cognition.

12:30 A.M. I’m standing in my pajamas with a gaggle of bystanders in front of the midtown tunnel exit. I don’t have my glasses on. A few days ago, in a sleepy stupor at 5:30 am, I got out of bed and stepped on the frames en route to opening the door.

I didn’t think I would need to put in my contacts for this. I assumed that I’d be able to float in and around the line of elephants. Los Hermanos de Ringling were walking their elephants to MSG. I saw a red blur and a clown riding the lead elephant. The elephants had red sequined signage on them that spelled out “I heart NY.”

I like elephants. I pictured a stately march. Instead, I was offered a spectacle with a clown in a tux getting paid to be effusively ebullient. I left a few seconds after feeling apologetic toward elephants and to circus animals in general.

Maybe I saw the elephant in me. Or, maybe, the elephant noticed the human with blurred vision in her and wondered why I was standing there with the other oglers.