Beautiful Things

You know that oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

Of course you do. Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past month does. I mean, if you turn on the news for five minutes, you will hear about it. It's there and it's huge and we're going to hear about it until there is nothing left to say.

But before I say another word about that, I want to say something about beauty. There are some things in the world that are unarguably beautiful. Okay, well, I guess you could argue, but only a fool would. I mean who would say that my friend, playing with her baby sister in their front yard in a swirl of bubbles, right before the sun is about to set, is not beautiful? It's beyond beautiful; it's magical. Very few people would say that the guy who works at the bookstore that I met the other day, is not beautiful. Someone with looks as good as his and a personality as friendly is certainly beautiful.

Basically, sometimes beauty is obvious. Sometimes it's a little harder to find. There have been and always will be people who will mistakenly believe that destruction is beautiful. Perhaps they see an innocent man beaten for no reason and think, “beauty”. Perhaps, they find it impossible to peel their beady black eyes away from a train wreck, or more a tangled mess of metal and smoke and dust and bodies. Maybe it’s as simple as seeing the wobbly shack of cardboard boxes and rotting wood that a family of eight calls their home and thinking it has a certain aesthetic appeal. I understand what these people see, but destruction, devastation, disaster- is not beautiful.

I think what these people see, is the survival and love and unity, because those are beautiful. There's hope and winning in those and despite all the horrible things surrounding them, it makes everything sort of magical.

Wherever there is a disaster, there are inspiring stories- So many stories that there's not enough time to hear them all. I guess it's some sort of coping method or something, but whatever it is, we love it, because it makes us feel good, even though terrible things are happening.

And when there's disaster, there's an immense amount of unity. The second something goes wrong everyone comes together. As the world has advanced we're even more connected and when something terrible happens on the other side of the world, people can share their pain and stories with us easily. We've become a world that suffers as one.

So, see, it's sort of beautiful, in a way. I mean, it's tragic, but magical. Still, I think there could be something better.

Wouldn't it be beautiful to see the world unite because of one amazing awesome thing. I mean, instead of suffering, coping, surviving together, wouldn't it be cool if we all celebrated something together?

I think that's why things like the Olympics or the World Cup are so amazing. They bring the world together for a little friendly competition. I'd like to see that more often I think. The world should celebrate together more and suffer together less.