Caroline Ayers
“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.” – Oscar Wilde
Each day, more and more human beings begin to forget the importance of appreciating the beauty of life and instead bury their noses into social media. This causes one to forget the arts and how they can heal the mind. The educated understand that for the mind to be stimulated and fulfilled, one must admire beauty. Art is not just a painting in a museum. Art is a mother humming a tune as she folds laundry, a little sibling’s finger painting on the fridge, a rock that has been eroded to look strangely similar to a heart. When one spends their time looking into a screen, it is easy to stop finding the meaning behind art. The wise understand that the key to living a happy life is acknowledging beauty.
Before I came to college, I never appreciated my parents’ orchard, which has been passed down my family for five generations. It was not just the beauty of the property that I paid no mind to. I never took the time to think about the work and love that was poured into each tree that was planted. Now that I have been away, I realize that everything on the land is art. How I did not notice before baffles me. Each tree limb, each seed in the ground, each leaf, it is all art. Art that my family spent their time creating and nurturing. It is all so beautiful to me now. Everything has beauty, especially when created with love.
I would not have considered myself wise or cultivated four months ago. Now, I believe that I am. Not because of any lesson I have been taught in the classroom. It is because now I am able to appreciate the beauty of mountains, trees, and even apples. Things that used to be in my everyday life that meant nothing to me now mean everything. Only the truly cultivated can see the beauty in an every day object. I feel truly blessed to have learned the importance of appreciating beauty and putting my phone down. Watching the beauty in the lives of others will bring no satisfaction. Now I recognize beauty in my life all the time.
I see beauty when my mother sends me pictures of my hometown. I see beauty when my nana calls me and tells me about her day. I see beauty when the first mountains start to appear during my drive home. I cannot think of anything more beautiful than what my loved ones have created and worked for. I never could have become so cultivated if I had not left home, so for that I am grateful. But, I am now ready to return home and take it all in with my new wisdom. I am ready to teach others the beauty of beauty and just how meaningful it is. How nothing could ever bring one more joy than to see the art of a loved one and truly take in all aspects of its beauty.