From Within It Shines

How long has it been since this world has known what beautiful is?  Is it defined by height and weight or perhaps by makeup and hairstyles?  The little girl playing dress up wants her mother to tell her she is a beautiful princess.  Of course, the mother tells her, but it is the mother’s heart that sees the beauty behind the tiara.  Poets have been defining it for years, yet not once do they refer to any form of advertising.  It matters not why people are beautiful; it matters only that they are.  It is here that one must agree with Emerson, “If eyes were made for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being.”

Beauty comes in a variety of forms.  It may be a smile, a light in one’s eyes, a selfless act, or a source not known to words.  Whether a little too tall, or to short, perhaps too heavy, maybe too thin, all souls have beautify within; they need only to see it.  The world must look inside itself and find true beauty there rather than rely on a false idea of what it is.  America has shut the door on the beautiful.  She has left us with an empty shell of what beauty is supposed to be.  Perception of beautiful is abundant on television as well as in magazines.  Another’s voice tells of the hair, body, and clothes we all need.  As the eyes see it, the distorted brain screams at the body for not being this vision of perfection.  However, people need not listen to a different voice; they need only listen to hear their own.

For example, an overweight mother spends her time in a hot warehouse working long, hard hours to provide for her family.  The needs of her children far outweigh her own.  She is pushed to a near break every day.  Yet she comes home with a smile to hugs from little arms that cannot reach around her.  Just before bed, she takes a long disgusted look in the mirror.  The mother wonders when she will have time to fix herself.  Yet with the first flicker of sunlight, she is happy to sacrifice herself once again.  The love in her children’s hearts is worth more than a million trips to the gym.  She is not only a mother; she is one of the most beautiful women this world has ever seen.

Beautiful is a bald woman fighting her battle with breast cancer.  She deals with the pain of chemo treatments, while comforting her husband’s grief.  She casts aside her own sorrows to continue being a mother to her children.  Her health seems to be fading, yet her spirits could not be higher.  She has loved ones to help wield the swords against her disease.  Support of family and friends is more healing than all the medicine the doctors can give her.  She rises from bed each morning with a smile ready to face the world head on.  Knowing that it may come calling, she refuses to fear death.  As if for the first time, she sees all the beauty in the world around her.  It is not hers to bottle up and keep; instead, she must add a little by sharing her own.

Beauty is in teachers’ hearts when they are willing to stay after class and help their students.  It is in the diamonds they see shining beneath the rough.  Warm congratulations and proud eyes sing praise for a job well done.  When all the smoke has cleared and test day arrives, they are proud to give such a grade.  It is not the grade given but of the grade earned that touches the soul.  Another beautiful thing has entered the world, the remarkable bond between teacher and student.

Beautiful is sacrificing a good night’s sleep so that a friend may find comfort.  True beautify is blind to race and gender.  It knows not size; age is of no matter.  Religion, politics, or money takes no upper hand.  Beauty cannot be measured with any man-made tool.  One must be still and experience its journey from the soul.  It is the twinge of sadness felt for other’s misfortune.  It can be seen in the tears of joy that fill the eyes to hear children confess their love.  Happiness with oneself regardless of form is far more beautiful than money could every buy.  It comes from within, tucked away in the secret folds of the heart.  Ever so slowly, it is unwrapped so that one day it may shine through.

Regardless of where it is found or how it is seen, it is frequently shaded by clouds of despair.  Perhaps the voices of advertisements are simply too loud.  Maybe the false sense of beautiful has placed too thick of a fog over the world.  Whatever the reason, it is all too often in this corrupt place that true beauty is cast into shadows and locked in darkness while we walk through the day in perfect sunlight.  It is time to open the door and let true beauty blind the world with its amazing light.