It’s so easy to feel like the world is ugly. Wars exist; cruelty is found around every corner. There are pollutants in the waterways, and parks built upon heaps of garbage as the plastics damage the soil. People and animals are losing homes and not having enough to eat. The point is, the world is ugly a lot of the time. But if the ugliness is in focus all of the time, it’s so easy to feel like the world isn’t worth fixing. Beauty is found in life, and it’s amazing what all life brings.
First off: people. All of us are alive. I see a beautiful smile from people I pass on the sidewalk. The way my best friend crosses her legs when she’s getting comfortable for a sleepover or seeing my parents dance to a song in the kitchen.
And people make things. My sisters make beautiful paintings. Not every art piece is meant for a museum, but there was love in each brush stroke, and isn’t that wonderful? Going to an old church is beautiful. I’m not religious, but I can recognize that a few centuries ago, there were people who believed so much in God and put love and energy into making a place to gather.
Now, are skyscrapers beautiful? Probably not. I think if something is being made by people, there needs to be love there to find the beauty. Like, I’m not calling a Tesla beautiful because that wasn’t made for the love of the craft, but for the love of money.
Music is gorgeous. So many emotions can be felt and there’s a song for every emotion that can be felt. Some pieces are quite old, but we can still relate to the lyrics today. How fantastic is it to have a link to the past because someone loved their wife so much they wrote a song about it? And now, we can listen to it and think of our loved ones.
Friendship and family are beautiful. Someone’s in your corner. Someone helped you learn how to braid your hair, pick out your outfit, and then you made friendship bracelets. A teacher gave me advice that I think about years later.
Of course, there’s natural beauty. At Bona’s, we’re surrounded by hills because over a few eons, rivers carved out the valley we’re in right now. Trees have grown and died, making way for more trees. They provide homes for wildlife, and now we get to see squirrels chase each other in the courtyard, like a kid playing tag. Over a few weeks, a flower will grow, bloom, and die, all for its offspring to do the same thing the next year.
When humans connect, in person, over social media, through song, through art, going past the language barriers to form that connection, it’s beautiful. Every single one of us is alive right now, how wonderful! If I weren’t alive right now, I wouldn’t have met the beautiful souls I’m fortunate enough to call friends and family. I wouldn’t get to look out the window in Swan to see the black squirrel with the skinny tail.
Things have been hard lately. It was a long and hard winter, and it’s going to take a lot of resilience and effort for the world to feel kinder. Taking a moment to find one thing that makes something beautiful can round off the sharp edges, just a little.