Beauty

I've published this over on my other blog last year and thought I'd put it here on A Summers Day. I like it, plus there's nothing in my head right now.


Beauty.
What is it?
How do you define it?
What makes someone beautiful?

Many things in life are beautiful. Things in nature such as the sunrise or sunset. I prefer the sunrise, it's more delicate although I don't see it very often. Not a morning person. Flowers, mountains, oceans, I could go on. These are all visual things.What about things you don't see but hear. I love to hear a new infant crying. I certainly don't want the child unhappy but there is something about a newborn baby cry. Very life affirming. Even better is a baby laughing. Musical and beautiful. The soft words and the love of a mother for her children. The loving words of a lover. The birds singing at dawn. To me these are all beautiful things.

I think there are many degrees of physical beauty. It, beauty, is truly in the eyes of the beholder. Some people are "cute" others "pleasant looking". There is the classic beauty, someone who has never had any surgical help. Think of old time movie stars. Many are false in their beauty. They've been nipped, tucked, pulled, stretched, peeled etc. Demi Moore comes to mind. You can have plastic surgery and ask for someone's nose, lips, eyes, breasts...I have a theory that someday the human race will all look alike.

"Ask a toad what is beauty?...a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head,
a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back." Voltaire

You may prefer blondes with blue eyes and porcelain skin or brunettes with brown eyes and cafe au lait skin, perhaps red heads with green eyes and freckles. It is hard to define. But can a person be beautiful without good looks?I feel to see true beauty in a person you have to look beyond the physical. When a person is kind, compassionate and considerate of mankind I think that shines through. Beauty comes from within. Your soul must be beautiful too. Can you find someone beautiful if you've never even seen them? I think so. Take internet friends. After a while you get to know them, their thoughts, opinions, the things they do and yes, in your eyes they can become beautiful. Unfortunatly they could be someone you would never notice in the real world but getting to know someone without seeing them gives you a chance to learn about the "real" person. When you see a couple together and think, "what does he see in her?" chances are he's seen beyond the looks to the deeper person. That in turn makes her beautiful to him.

"Do you love me because I'm beautiful or am I beautiful because you love me?"
Oscar Hammerstein, II

There are lots of beautiful people out there but many, not all, are very self absorbed, think they are superior and down right mean.I'm concerned with people's idea of beauty. Let's face it, most of us don't have a make-up person, a live in hairdresser, a personal trainer, money for new teeth. What we see in movies, on tv, and in magazines is not true beauty. As the average person, we can never live up to that image. Young girls and women think they're not attractive because they don't look like Halle Barry or Angelina Joli. I've got news for you, if you saw them before hair and make-up, and digital inhancement, they'd look average. You may not even recognize them. Click on the link to see exactly what I mean. www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/beauty

A favorite poem of mine by Sam Levenson

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone...
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed
and redeemed, redeemed, redeemed.
Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands.
One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Young love and old love. I saw this couple while in a park one day. They were obviously celebrating something. Whether is was a special occasion or just the fact that they were together. I don't know.