Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that different people will find different things beautiful and that the differences of opinion don't matter greatly This past week's furor over Susan Boyle in the Britain's Got Talent contest reminded me of how much we judge a book by it's cover and how wrong that is. My husband and my kids have helped me to be more tolerant. One exercise that I do is to sit in a mall and watch people go by and deliberately try to think positive thoughts about them instead of judging them negatively because of their appearance. Unfortunately, in the past, I have missed many opportunities for great encounters with people because I judged them first. I wonder how fame will change Susan Boyle? I wonder if her agent or others will try to shape her eyebrows, change her hairstyle etc and I wonder if she will let them do that to her. I hope not. I hope that people love her for her fantastic voice and perfect pitch and love her because of her spirit, her compassion for her mother and her persistence. All I can say is "you go, girl". Reminds me of a poem from a favorite book of mine called Bethy and the Mouse. It was written by the father of a girl with Down Syndrome and here is how he described his daughter and her friends. (from Bethy and the Mouse by Donald Blakely) As I drive across Kansas in the different moments of the year I'm thankful for the many ways beauty makes itself known and even more thankful somewhere somehow I was taught that beauty can be found in lots of likely and unlikely places. I love the sharp silhouette of a once live tree in those moments when the morning pushes its light out to prepare the way for the day. I find the desolation of eastern Utah moving, inspiring, breathtaking. The beige, cattle specked hills of Kansas always touch me with the warmth of their beauty. And yet, others have spoken to me in despair of the emptiness, the boring-ness of these same things. I think this happens also with Down's people. I remember seeing Down's kids before, and thinking the word "homely". But that was before you, Beth and you, Stacey and you, Jennifer and the rest of Beth's schoolmates who, since Beth, have infected my life. When I see those sweet gushing mouths, those almost left out noses, those eyes that are always getting ready to do something, and the rest of what you come with, then I am reminded that God, the ultimate artist, has a better sense of beauty than we have. And in you, God gave us a beauty that runs amok and that moves all up and down and in and around our senses. The special thing for those who have Down's kids, is that God gave us a beauty that can be hugged. And when it's hugged, it somehow becomes enlarged and special in its power to move. Beauty was meant to be sensed and yours is a beauty that touches me. So my Bright Idea for this week is to learn to appreciate those things that are usually not thought of as lovely (or lovable). There is beauty in everyone if you search for it.