World Without Mirrors

This is a song I wrote called "World Without Mirrors", about how we see ourselves and how we see each other. With it, I'd like to share a clip from a documentary called Human.  T he filmmaker, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, often took helicopter flights to shoot aerial footage of our planet, and one day in Mali, his helicopter broke down. While waiting for repairs, he spent the entire day with a farmer, who spoke to him of his life, hopes, fears and his one ambition: to feed his children. The experience so moved Yann that he spent the next three years interviewing 2,000 women and men in 60 countries, capturing stories and perspectives on the struggles and joys that unite us all.

Here are some of the people he interviewed, with the song, World Without Mirrors.

World Without Mirrors, by Nina Choudhary (also on SoundCloud)

In a world without mirrors, how would I see me—
How would you describe what you see?
How would I look through your eyes if my eyes were blind?
Can you tell me what you’d find? 

Would you see my transgressions, my courage, my woe?
All of the things that I wish you didn’t know?
World without mirrors, who do we all see—
Is it really you or me? 

In a world without mirrors, how would they see us—
How would they see past their mistrust?
How would we look through their eyes if our eyes were blind?
Can you tell me what they’d find? 

Would they see our traditions, the way that we love?
All of the things that we’re not too proud of?
World without mirrors, who do we condemn—
Is it really us, or them? 

In a world without mirrors, how would I see you—
How would I describe what you do?
How would you look through my eyes if your eyes were blind?
Let me tell you what I find. 

I can see all the trial, all the fire you walk through
All of the things that you wish you didn’t do.

World without mirrors, who do we see true—Is it really me or you?

About Human, the documentary: What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery?  Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness. Watch online (available in English, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and French).