Flowers versus Christmas Lights: Different and Beautiful
Image Courtesy: Instagram
It’s magic, almost. Living in a world where, if you really look closely, you can find beauty everywhere. Lingering at every corner, threading its way through our daily lives. Soft waves kissing the shore. A golden sky breaking. Art existing for art’s sake. A mountain range in the distance. Stark laughter. Bright stars. A gentle exchange between a little girl perched at a lemonade stand and a teenager remembering her own innocent youth.
A colorful, blooming flower. A bright string of Christmas lights.
Being human means being complex and having lots of intricate feelings. As humans we are prone to comparison. We analyze the people around us, sizing them up. We compulsively examine their features, what they have that we don’t but desperately want. We try to figure out where and why we are falling short, why we don’t look the way they do. Straighter hair, curlier hair. Flawless skin, better makeup. Lighter eyes, smaller nose. Compare, compare, compare. Not as tall, not as short. Freckles, straighter smile. Skinnier, thicker. Compare, compare, compare.
When we find someone beautiful, we automatically assume we aren't, especially when we perceive they look nothing like us. Because if they are this supposed “definition” of beauty and have features that we don’t, how could we possibly be beautiful too?
But think about all the non-human things we find beautiful. The things that are striking enough to make us stop and marvel. We don’t compare their beauty. We don’t analyze and pick apart how a sunset looks when compared to the ocean, because that wouldn’t make sense. Why would we compare such wholly different things? Sunsets and the ocean exist as completely separate entities, beautiful in entirely different ways. Why is this so different with humans? Why don’t we treat ourselves the same way we treat other beautiful things?
If we hadn’t been so conditioned to think and compare the way we do, our world would look a little different. We’d be more confident. We’d have more self-love. We’d be more accepting. It’s disarmingly simple, really. We overcomplicate it, thinking we are so different from things that exist outside of humankind. Maybe we need to take a lesson from our earth, from non-human existences, to change the way we view beauty.
As the account @sscreamss posted on Tumblr, “Just because you don't look like someone you find beautiful doesn't mean you aren't beautiful. Flowers are pretty but so are Christmas lights, and they look nothing alike."
They say comparison is the thief of joy. He may be the stars, but you are mountains. She may be a flower, but you are a string of Christmas lights. Beautiful in entirely different ways, but beautiful all the same.
Existing separately. Existing magnificently.
Strike Out,
Writer: Abby Wager
Notre Dame
