The Man in the Glass

In this episode - The Man in the Glass . . .

By – Dale Wimbrow (published 1934)

When you get what you want in your struggle for self

And the world makes you king for a day,

Just go to the mirror and look at yourself

And see what That man has to say.

For it isn't your father, or mother, or wife,

Whose judgment upon you must pass.

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you a straight-shootin’ chum

And call you a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum

If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the man in the glass.

Peter Dale Wimbrow, better known as Dale Wimbrow, was an American author, radio personality, and songwriter best known for his poem "The Man in the Glass." (March 6, 1895 – January 26, 1954).

Wimbrow's early career was in music and radio. Under his name and as Old Pete Daley of Whaleysville, he became known for his records and radio performances with orchestras. His credits include several recordings in the 1920s, in which he performed as the solo vocalist and often as his own accompanist (on the ukulele).

The majority of those songs were his creations, and he began turning to songwriting almost exclusively in the latter part of the decade. Perhaps his best-known musical composition was the 1930 "Accordion Joe" jazz tune. Played by Duke Ellington's band, it appeared that same year as the soundtrack to an animated short film of the same name starring Betty Boop. The tune has appeared several times in Duke Ellington compilation albums.

Wimbrow wrote “The Guy in the Glass” for publication in The American Magazine in 1934. It is often mistitled as The Man In The Glass. The poem became a popular clipping passed between people, and the author's credit was often dropped, leading to inquiries about the author in newspapers as early as 1938. Ann Landers wrongly attributed the poem to an anonymous drug abuse victim in her column on October 5, 1983. After receiving multiple letters claiming different authorship, she later acknowledged on December 5, 1983, that the true author was Wimbrow.

Wimbrow's most enduring legacy is this inspirational poem, "The Man in the Glass," which still resonates with readers due to its message about self-reflection, personal integrity, and honesty.

I’m Patrick Ball. Thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Comments

Don Hanley said…

A great quote and I'd like to hear from you as YOU look in the Glass. And this is broad enough even the Trumper can look in the glass and think he is wonderful, but....

November 18, 2023 at 10:02 AM

When Fear Becomes the Default

In this special episode, When Fear Becomes the Default. Early Sunday morning, I was cycling past a small veterans’ pocket park in San Marcos. The air was still, the streets nearly empty. On one corner stood a young woman, alone, holding a hand-painted sign that read: “Be ANGRY. ICE agents are murdering people.” I pedaled past, but the words stayed with me. I knew the context—the footage and headlines from Minneapolis the day before, already ricocheting through the country and hardening opinions. Even in the quiet of the ride, the noise followed. Two miles later, I stopped at a red light. A black car with dark windows pulled up inches from my bike. My heart jumped. My first instinct wasn’t neighbor —it was threat . I found myself bracing, scanning, and wondering if the person inside was angry, armed, or looking for trouble. Then the door opened. A well-dressed young woman stepped out, walked to the trunk, and pulled out a sign that read “Open House.” She turned, smiled brightly, and sa...

Boy on a Beam

In this special bonus episode, Boy on a Beam. In a world long ago, when the days moved quite slow, Before buzzes and beeps and the fast things we know, A boy sat quite still on a very fine day, Just staring at nothing . . . and thinking away. No tablets! No gadgets! No screens shining bright! No earbuds stuck in from morning till night. No lists, no charts, and no chores to be done. He just sat there thinking—that's quiet-time fun! His name was Young Albert. He sat in his chair, Thinking of things that weren’t really there. “Suppose,” said Young Albert, with eyes open wide, “I ran super fast with my arms by my side! Suppose I ran faster than anyone knew, And caught up to sunshine that zoomed past me—too! If I hopped on its back for a light-speedy ride, What secrets would I find tucked away deep inside?” “Would stars look like sprinkles, all shiny and small? Would UP feel like sideways? Would BIG feel like Tall?” He giggled and wondered and thought, and he dreamed, Till his head fel...

Sweden Called . . . They Said No.

Have you ever wondered about the Nobel Prize? Let's look at Where Genius Meets “Wait—Where’s My Medal?” Every October, the Nobel Prizes are announced, and humanity pauses to celebrate the "greatest benefit to mankind." And every year, like clockwork, a specific type of person appears online to complain—at length—that they were robbed. (Well, maybe this year more than most.) The Origin: A Legacy of Guilt The prize exists because Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, had a crisis of conscience. Nobel held 355 patents, but he was most famous for inventing dynamite. When a French newspaper mistakenly published his obituary, calling him the " Merchant of Death, " he decided to buy a better legacy. In his 1895 will, he left the bulk of his massive fortune to establish five prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace). Because he was Swedish, he entrusted the selection to Swedish institutions, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The only outlier...

The Thought Experiment–Revisited

In this episode. The Thought Experiment–Revisited The Boy on a Light Beam In 1895, a sixteen-year-old boy did something we rarely allow ourselves to do anymore. He stared into space and let his mind wander. No phone. No notes. No “Optimization Hacks” for his morning routine. Just a question: What would happen if I chased a beam of light—and actually caught it? That boy was Albert Einstein . And that single act of curiosity—a Gedankenexperiment , a thought experiment—eventually cracked open Newton’s tidy universe and rearranged our understanding of time itself. Not bad for an afternoon of daydreaming. Imagine if Einstein had been “productive” instead. He would have logged the light-beam idea into a Notion database, tagged it #CareerGrowth, and then promptly ignored it to attend a forty-five-minute “Sync” about the color of the departmental logo. He’d have a high Efficiency Score—and we’d still be stuck in a Newtonian universe , wondering why the Wi-Fi is slow. In a post I wrote back in...

On The Fly

Search This Blog