Beauty Everywhere
Children have huge imaginations. When they play outside, this just becomes more so. A stick becomes a sword, a tree becomes a castle, the dog becomes a horse. Sometimes, dandelions become roses. Or some other beautiful flower. What exactly makes those dandelions unbeautiful? Why is it that when we see them, we want to cut them down? What qualifies as beautiful?
“What a lovely thing a rose is!”
— Arthur Conan Doyle
I asked my mother why dandelions were considered weeds, and she answered that it’s because they grow where they aren’t wanted. If roses grew where they weren’t wanted, would they be a weed? Would we spray them with weed killer to get them off of our driveway? I can understand why some might not like things that grow where they aren’t supposed to. People like uniformity. They like mowing their grass in columns, so you can see the straight, perfect looking rows. They like having one pot of flowers on each side of the door, to keep things even. Still, I think that dandelions are beautiful. Regardless of their status of plant, I believe them still to be beautiful.
Beauty in Sound
There are more things that I think could be considered beautiful. For instance, have you ever seen sunlight hitting a tree, but through the gaps in the branches you can see storm clouds? I don’t know why, but maybe it just the sheer conflicting characteristics of it that makes it beautiful. I also think that the sound of thunder and heavy rain is amazing. Especially early in the morning. My dog doesn’t like it so much, but I think it’s beautiful.
I don’t think that it’s merely the sound or the sight of something that make it beautiful. I think it’s the feelings that it represents that make it so. For example, I like the sight of dandelions, because, to me, they represent stepping outside of what people are used to, and what they normally see. I think thunder is beautiful because it makes me feel safe and protected.
Beauty is How One Looks at Things
Different people must think that different things are beautiful. I think that lots of things outside are beautiful. There must be some frazzled parent out there who thinks that the school bus is beautiful, or a cup of coffee. Someone who hunts or camps a lot might think that a deer is beautiful, while a teacher might see a clean, quiet classroom as beautiful.
Beauty is complicated. It isn’t only a measure of how pretty things are, but it’s how people look at things. This week, look around you. Smell the roses, and try to see the beauty in everything. See you next week!