Beautiful Villains

“Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness yet become something beautiful”.

Unknown

This last week I saw a post on social media that rattled many and seemed inappropriate and a little in poor taste. It caused a chorus of outrage and I guess understandably so. But rather than offend me personally on my present medical situation like I guess it should have, it left me really pondering the purpose and meaning of beauty and the many appearances it can manifest. I am not going to go into great detail about the situation I refer to because I feel it unnecessary to evoke the same nature of emotions when it is not the point I am trying to explore.

On the situation I refer to, I personally believe the wording did not support the context of the message that was trying to be conveyed, and I nod my head emphatically…. haven’t we all been there? Put your hand up? Yes, thank you iPhone and your predictive text… hahahahaa!!!!!

Beauty takes many forms, and has many varying meanings to the beholder don’t you agree? For example, I am always in awe when I walk on the soft white sand of the Queensland coastline and see the crashing white horses (or waves) in the distance and I am overwhelmed with the beauty of the scene before me. Or when I look at a Farmers market stall filled with the colours of a rainbow and see the fresh produce beckoning me to spend another few dollars when I usually have ample in my basket already… to me that is a thing of beauty! And yes, these all sound like glorious scenes and there isn’t anything or anyone that would question that.

But what if I said that I took home a piece of fruit from that basket and bit right into it’s juicy deliciousness, and low and behold right there looking back at me was a brown little worm wriggling for dear life, would it look or taste beautiful now? Maybe this fruit may not taste so beautiful because my mind is now tainted with the thought that I almost had eaten the little critter. What do you think the next reaction would be…? We would throw the fruit away in disgust, cringe in repulsion and perhaps feel violated even that this little animal decided to ruin that glorious moment of enjoyment. What only just a moment ago was a thing of beauty…. now lies at the bottom of the trash and hated and repelled for the situation that just took place.

Take a moment to think… this piece of fruit was also the object of affection for the little worm who, lets give him credit, was rudely interrupted in his feasting fest and now is griping for all his wriggly livelihood as he finds himself projectiled into darkness at the bottom of the trash. Where glory, brightness and fulfilment was only moments ago taking place; now there is a dear fight for life, in an ugly unsanitized environment of rotting waste. How quickly something went from being beautiful to being something foul and awful, ruining a moment, a desire, all because our reaction to the situation changed in a split second.

My mind then went on a journey of all these things that appear to be famously beautiful but deep down when you dissect they really are ugly, gross and pathetic…. (these are harsh words, they already feel hated). Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones (yes my most loved TV show) is ‘supermodel’ gorgeous, but her character is vicious, deceiving and downright distasteful… but we love to hate her don’t we and we are still in awe of her beauty! Then you could look on the other scale and think, something so ugly can be beautiful… like a dead possum on the road (gross I know), we try to avoid it and not get our tyres dirty but do we ever stop and think, that before this moment that animal was beautiful, timid, it maybe ate Ant’s chilies but it once had a story too and we forget that. Or a fly… sooooooo annoying with its “buzz-buzz” here and lingering to sit and do its business on your food, but when you look really close, don’t you think they have the most amazing eyes; that can be conceived beautiful.

I guess what I am trying to convey in a hum drum of crazy words is that, beauty takes on many forms, it can be the villain we love to hate, or the thing that repels us the most but at the end of it all it is how we react and the choices that we set in motion that really allow our minds to perceive things in a light that is either favourable or distasteful. And I can guarantee when you do take that moment, call it clarity or call it just being present and mindful that it is a far nicer feeling to look at the bigger picture and the story that accompanies its origin.

With love, light and beauty xxx

Photograph courtesy of Wallpaper Scene Free Downloads