Prose
Owning or Beholding What We Consider to Be Beautiful
Reflection sparked by a withering field of Bluebonnets
I live right across a field.
During Spring, all sorts of wildflowers pop up — tons of bluebonnets, and a sprinkle of Pinkladies, Coreopsi, and Winecups.
It is a beautiful sight, to say the least.
But as quickly as the field blooms, as quickly it begins to wither. Not a natural type of withering. Rather, it is more of a the-flowers-got-sat-on-and-withered type of withering.
I live in Texas, and for those who are not from here, getting your picture taken in a field of Bluebonnets is kind of a Spring family affair.
Don’t get me wrong, the pictures that are taken are beautiful — I love seeing families taking beautiful photos in the flowers as I walk my dog.
However, it was saddening to see the once-beautiful flower fields, now look like… crap (for lack of a better word).
It made me think about our relationship with beauty. It is not enough for us to behold it, we want to own it, or at the very least feel a closeness to it.
Think, animals, things from nature, art, etc.
Or even physical beauty. We as a society are in an endless chase to remain beautiful.
Just like the dying Bluebonnet fields, our refusal to be willing to simply behold beauty is what ends up tainting it. Or even tainting what is truest to ourselves in the process.
Even though I am using the pronoun “us”, it is easy to create some distance between those that I am describing and me.
But I realize that I am just the same.
Just last year, I took beautiful pictures of my dog in those same Bluebonnet fields. I am guilty of picking and pressing flowers to create art. Picking up rocks at the beach to take home. I oftentimes get caught in the endless pursuit of physical beauty.
And not that those things are inherently wrong — but just makes me wonder, how close is too close?
And what about you, what do you think about your relationship to what is beautiful?
