What is Beauty???...

She was not beautiful.

Nothing about her was extraordinary.

Nothing about her made her stand out in a crowd.

She grew up in a family of six.

The eldest, she learnt responsibility at an early age.

As she grew stronger, and brighter,

She instilled a sort of light cheer to whomever she met.

She was not beautiful.

But she made others feel beautiful about themselves.

She meets a rebel boy who thinks he's all man.

Befriending him, she teaches him how to read,

A little boost the man needed to go to college.

They became friends fast and she fell,

Fast in love with her rugged, handsome student.

The "man" then finds himself in a dilemma

He soon found himself in love with a girl.

A girl so beautiful, she turned even the grouchiest men's head.

Her hair was a halo of light around her,

Her eyes the bluest blue of ocean.

Like an angel he tells his tutor

Like a beautiful angel.

The girl swallows a lump at her throat

She was not beautiful

She did not possess the heart of the one she loved

But she did not care.

As long as he was happy,

She would be or so she tried to.

She helped him write the most beautiful letter to his angel

All the time envisioning that it was she herself

Receiving those very letters.

And so the girl helped him choose the right words,

Buy the right gifts for his angel

His angel brought him much joy

And much pain to the girl who cried behind her smiles.

But that never stopped her from giving more

Than she will ever receive.

Then one day, all hell broke loose

The angel he loved left him for another man,

A richer, more successful man.

The boy was stunned

He was so hurt he did not speak for days

The girl went to him

He cried on her shoulder and she cried with him

He hurt and so did she.

Time went by.

And so the wounds heal.

The boy realizes something about his friend/tutor

He never realized before.

How her laughter sounded heavenly

Or how her smiles brightened up the darkest days.

Or simply how beautiful, yes beautiful she looked to him!

Beautiful.

This plain, simple girl was beautiful to him.

And he began to fall.

Fall so in love with this beautiful girl.

On one day, he picked up all his courage to see her

He walked to her house, nervous and fidgeting.

Running his thoughts over and over in his head.

He was going to tell her how beautiful she was to him.

He was going to tell her how wonderfully in love he was with her.

He knocked.

No one was home.

The next day he found out,

The beautiful girl he fell in love with had brain aneurysm

That put her into a coma.

The doctors were grim and the family decided to let her go.

One final time he got to see her.

He held her hand.

He stroked her hair

And he cried for this beautiful girl.

He cried for he will never see her smile

Or hear her speak his name

He cried.

But it was too late.

The beautiful girl was buried and the heavens broke out

In a beautiful spring shower, a cry for their loss.

She was the most beautiful girl in the world.

Look around you.

Aren't there a lot of plain faces?

Take a good look.

A real good look or you might miss out

On that beautiful person.

Forever.

~ Author Unknown ~

I came across this when surfing in the morning.

Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. So true.I have always wondered what does that mean.

I was having a chat about the seven wonders of the world with a friend of mine.We are all,of course,ecstatic that The Taj Mahal has made it once again to the top.There was a picture on the front page of today's newspaper which showed Ben Kingsley,Bipasha Basu and Hilary Swanks at the ceremony.Not the Taj! ''Bips' is beautiful",remarked my friend.This remark was enough to set me wondering about ;What is beauty?

While scouring the web for a definition,this is what came up:

Beauty is the phenomenon of the experience of pleasure, through the perception of balance and proportion of stimulus. It involves the cognition of a balanced form and structure that elicits attraction and appeal towards a person, animal, inanimate object, scene, music, idea, etc.

That's a mouthful!

A common saying is that

beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

When we get caught up in trying to let the media establish the definition of beauty, we lose sight of our own personal definitions.Have you really stopped to ponder what is beauty, really?

We are bombarded everyday with beauty contests like Miss Universe and Miss World as well as Vogue Magazine featuring the most beautiful people in the world. Do they answer the question "What is beauty?".

Advertisements of companies selling beauty products abound which offer usthe definition of beauty in a bottle of creamy liquid or a tube of cream.But is this OUR definition?

Or is it what we have begun to believe according to society?

In solitude, the girl stood in front of the one whom she knew never lied to her. The only one who she trusted in the world of lies that she lived in. The one who looked back at her with the same expression on their face as the girl had on hers. Whatever move the girl made, her faithful one would always copy her. The one person that she trusted was not human, but mainly herself.

It was her own reflection in her mirror.

Examining her reflection carefully, she looked at it with disgust. Her hair was fuzzy and hard to handle; unbrushed and unclean. Her eyes were bloodshot red from the tears that stung them. Mascara was smeared underneath her eyes and her makeup was out of order. Her face was covered with tiny little red dots that popped out of her skin as her makeup was smudged all over her flesh. Her skin was as rough as sandpaper which would never be smooth as silk like everyone else's. Her whole body was completely out of shape and formed in the worst way possible. She knew that just by staring into her reflection, her mirror was trying to tell her something. That she was not beautiful.

But then again, beauty is seen through the eyes of the beholder. So what is beauty? If someone puts loads of makeup on their face and styles their hair like celebrities do, is that beautiful? If one starves themselves in order to be in a perfect shape like the models in fashion magazines, is that beautiful? The girl is hypnotized by the subliminal messages that the media sends out to her. Act like this. Dress like that. Somehow her self-esteem has dropped lower than a tennis ball falling off a cliff. Is there beauty behind the disguise that the reflection portrays to her?

To her... no. But to her reflection... yes.

Looking down at her lips in her reflection, she felt like vomit would escape them. They were broken and chappy. Not even lip balm or chap stick could cure it. But a little voice appeared in her head all of a sudden and spoke words that her mind could never forget.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

She wasn't like the other girls around her. The popular, pretty girls always spoke bitter words, creating irony in their lives. She, however, spoke words of kindness, love, and integrity. No matter how ugly her lips looked, her words would make them sweet.

Her pupils trailed from her chappy lips back to her bloodshot eyes. Those eyes... haunted her. They were red and filled with tears. Those droplets of sorrow just couldn't stop flowing out of them. The mascara that she put on to make her eyes glorious, made her eyes end up in a bad condition where mascara was smeared all over her eyelids. She had such an urge to poke both her eyes out to blind her from the sight of the horrid portrait of herself in the mirror. But once her eyes met the eyes of her reflection, that little voice reappeared again.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

She was blinded by the beauty in front of her. In everything bad there was always something good. In every bad person, deep down inside there is something good about them waiting to be unleashed. Waiting to be exposed to the world. People hated her for who she was because she was herself; when the world mainly loved people for who they were not. Out of all people, she was the only one who was able to see the beauty in all man and creation. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to see the beauty within herself.

No matter what clothes she wore, they could still never hide her asymmetrical figure. She wasn't as thin as those fashion models found in magazines. But she wasn't fat like the obese people that she's seen everyday. No, she was average. But according to the world revolving around her, average wasn't good enough. The world demanded perfection, and she failed to meet that demand. She would get teased and picked on for her figure. For the way she looked everyday according to what clothes she wore or how much her body weighed. She could hear the evil voices of the crude people laughing at her. But once again, that little voice blocked out the others and spoke another important quotation.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

She remembered walking down the streets of downtown, watching the poor and the homeless reach out to people for a helping hand. But no one would ever lend a hand. No. Instead of help, rejection was all that they would ever get in return. But she wasn't like those people who were selfish and egotistical. She actually cared. When she had extra food in her pockets or extra money in her wallet, they wouldn't be spent or thrown away in the garbage. Those items would be given to those in need. She ignored the dirty looks that she got from strangers and accepted the smiles that the poor would give her after the good deeds that she has done. Remembering such moments brought a tiny smile to grow just a little bit on her broken lips.

Her gaze shifted higher from her eyes to her hair. That messy, unmanagable hair; oh how she loathed it. She wanted to grab the strands of her hair and rip them out of her scalp in rage and anger. No matter how much she tried to brush and clean it, it wouldn't be as perfect as the ones at school who actually had perfect hair. Her hair covered her ears immensely, making her deaf of her surroundings. But the voice in her head was the only thing that she could hear.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

The older ones would always mock those who were beneath them. Children didn't matter that much anymore as they used to back in the past. Children were picked on, bullied, and used for bad purposes. But seeing the looks on the children's faces when they were happy, made her happy. Thinking about the laughter of the little ones running around her brought that small smile on her face to grow... just a little bit bigger.

For some reason unknown to her, she was told that perfect posture made a lady perfect. But her posture was weak and in a bad position since she carried so many things from school and back home. She never walked straight. She never stood straight. Her poise was off from everyone else's. She felt as if just by the way she walked, she was mocked even more by those that were perfect. The whispers in her head told her that she would never be as perfect as the people around her. For once in her life... that little voice in her head agreed.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

She may feel as if she is alone in her life, since no one will support her into looking good for once. Truth be told, she isn't alone. She has her reflection to speak the honest truth. And her mind to speak to her when she is lonely and help her make wise decisions in her life. She may not walk straight or have perfect poise... but it doesn't mean that she is unable to walk in the path of life that she has taken for herself.

Betrayal, heartache, lies, judgement; these are some of the things that she has experienced in her lifetime. In the past, she has loved ever so many. But now, who is left to love? How can she love someone who doesn't love her back? How can she care for someone who doesn't feel the same way? Girls and boys, friends and more than that. Who is there to love? Her heart beats too loudly for her to not hear the answers to her own questions. Nonetheless, the voice in her mind speaks as clear as crystal.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

According to others, she was garbage. Used for fun then thrown away when done with. That's all she ever felt of herself; nothing but worthless garbage. But no matter who treated her like shit, she kept them in her heart. She remembered to always love her friends and enemies. For they may be going through things even worse than what she is going through right now.

The sight of her reflection was no longer shown to her as she looked away from it and down at her hands. Her hands were dirty and rough from all the hard work that she has done. They weren't as smooth as everyone else's, but somehow it showed great importance to her. Without her hands, she couldn't do anything. And without that little voice in her head, guidance could not be reached.

Remember... if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

The voices in her head, and the words that were spoken, were wise. Wise enough to understand just how amazing she really was. Her smile somehow continued to grow without her knowing in the first place. When she looked at her smile in her reflection, she was actually pleased. Her teeth shined like pearls and they were... what's the word... perfect. This made a difference to her. A difference that she failed to notice. Not only was she beautiful... but she is beautiful. Not in the past, but in the present and in the future as well. She lifted up her weak hands and placed them carefully on the sides of her face. A small giggle escaped her chappy lips. She actually felt happy. Her reflection along with the voice in her head helped her out completely. Through the eyes of the beholder, beauty really was seen within her. Not just in the inside, but on the outside as well. No matter how horrible she looked, she continued telling herself just how beautiful she really was.

She removed her hands away from her face and looked down at them carefully;

remembering another thing that the little voice in her head once said to her.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;

She carefully lifted up her left hand and examined it carefully...

one for helping yourself...

She then lifted up her right hand at the same height as her left hand and thought...

...and the other for helping others.

The girl knew that she wasn't a girl, but a lady. A beautiful, wise young lady who didn't care about perfection or anything else. No. No matter how messed up she looked, she thought she was beautiful nonetheless.

You are beautiful... no matter what people say...

Beautiful is… the curve of a smile on a mother’s face as she watches her little girl dance; the ecstatic smile of the woman in the arrivals hall when her man comes through the door; and the shared, amused smile on the faces of an old couple who do not need to talk.” - Nuala O’Faolain

Whatever you love is beautiful; love comes first, beauty follows. The greater your capacity for love, the more beauty you find in the world.
- Jane Smiley

“Beauty involves awe. We see a picture, by, say, Matisse; it is beyond words; it simply fills us with wonder. A piece of music by Moxart makes us feel ‘of course, of course, that is the secret of life…’”- Muriel Spark

Beauty is that which contains goodness.

To my mind BEAUTY is......indefinable,elusive.