"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting." That's a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you don't know who that is, then you really need to read more! As a refresher for those of you who might not remember him, Ralph was an American poet who led the transcendentalist movement. Most of his important stuff was first given as lectures and then written down as essays. "Nature" and the "American Scholar" were two of his best-known essays. To get back to his quote, I have three separate thoughts on it. First, I agree with him that you should never lose an opportunity to see beauty. Not because it is God's handwriting, but because we should all experience as much beauty in our lives as we can! Confucius believed that there was beauty in all things, but that not all could see it. Personally, I see no beauty in war or violent death, so I'd have to disagree with him there. I certainly saw no beauty in the way my wife died either, but I may be looking deeper into his words than he meant. What I think we can all agree on is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Furthermore, beauty does not have to be seen to be present. If you have ever just sat and listened to Bolero or some other piece of classical music, then you know what I mean. Beauty is subjective to the individual. While I am certain that there are some standards of beauty that most people would agree on when it comes to people, I honestly believe that there are so many variations to what people find beautiful that I can honestly say that everyone is beautiful in someone's eyes. The trick is to find the person that finds YOU beautiful! They may find you beautiful for the way you look, but more importantly, I hope they find you beautiful for the way you are. Aside from beautiful people, I think there are many beautiful places in the world. The Rockies during the summer are very high on my list right now. The mountains in my own back yard are also beautiful. Here is the view from Pac Monadnock in New Hampshire. As for people, I think all people can be beautiful in their own way. Here are a few of my favorite people: And, of course, there is the person I found most beautiful of all. My wife. Rest in peace Babe.
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