For the Love of Pretty Things
Cherish the beauty around you!
Beauty keeps us alive — we all have crazy busy schedules and never-ending worries of life that keep us on the edge of our seats all the time. Amidst such chaos, if we see a blooming tree, a fine sculpture, a laughing kid, a vintage book, or two lovers at a small café; wouldn’t that bring a slight smile on our face? A momentary smile, yes, but a smile! not wide enough but calming and soothing in its own peculiar way.
At that moment, we feel a light headache leaving our brain, a little burden slipping off our chest, and everything around us seems to be in the right place at the right time — as if the whole universe is exactly the way it’s supposed to be and we find ourselves musing over John Keats’s words:
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
I do believe that we all have our own perception of pretty things, but I also believe that whatever that perception might be, we are all entitled to hold true to it, to cherish our love for the things that appear pretty to us!
I read a book on a comfy sofa while looking out my window at the finely constructed houses, and I find that pretty! And I also believe that it is the pretty things in life that make us feel alive, the things that are not always visible but often felt in the lonely corner in sheer solitude.
You go out with your partner for a small little picnic, telling each other the things that make a difference in your life, nobody is watching that, nobody is feeling that but that moment is your pretty thing!
A girl roams around with her friends, probably lying to her parents but steps out any way to celebrate her best friend’s birthday, and they cut the cake with that girl having the broadest smile on her face and the sincerest feelings in her heart for her deal old friend, and that’s beautiful!
A boy goes out to grab a cup of coffee and a gaming store distracts him, he picks up the latest version of his favorite video game thinking of playing it on the weekend with a proud smile on his face, and what is that if not pretty?
An old man picks up a sweater in a clothing store — a light color; something in between lilac and lavender — the color his daughter was wearing when she got married and he thinks of her two little angels that turn everything upside down when they come to visit, and that thought is nothing but sheer beauty!
A man steps inside his office and reaches his desk where he sees a pile of work close to a sticky note from his friend telling him a fun work-life joke. He laughs as he thinks of making him pay for lunch since he paid yesterday, and that’s his pretty moment.
A child shows his drawing of a summer house with the sun smiling behind to his Science teacher who appreciates his art despite having the slightest interest in art, and that’s the prettiest bond ever.
A woman steps out on her balcony with her favorite cup of tea, cardamom tea with a bit of lemon grass — thinking about the recent divorce that has finally freed her of all the abuse and torture she has been dealing with for 18 years, and that’s beautiful.
All these things are pretty but cannot be cherished or felt unless we fall in love with these pretty things and unless we are in the habit of noticing these pretty moments!
These are the purest illustrations of beauty and there are so many other things that lie around us only if we look around and open our hearts to the beauty hidden in everything all the time.
We all need to share this love, the love for pretty things because that’s what keeps us alive at the darkest hours of the coldest nights. The things that are small and almost forgettable but when we view them for more than a second, we are able to see the enormous beauty encapsulated by those small little things.
