Beauty is in the Eyes of Beholder!

I simply love walking at the shore. I love the waves as they fall back touching my bare feet, the calm of the shore, the song the wind plays along with the sea, the endless blue sea stretching from left to right, the soft wet sand more beautiful and softer than any carpet hands could ever weave, looking back at the footprints that I left in my wake, watching them being swept away or fade by the waves. All of It soothes my soul, my mind and always gives me a lot to think about (well I said sooth not rest ;))

I also love collecting pebbles and shells that interest me during these walks, shells because they are pretty and pebbles... Well it all began when I spotted a beautifully round, smoothed pebble on one of these walks, it was a hue of different colours - blue, brown, white- all blended artistically with so much beauty that I couldn’t help marvelling at the grace of almighty and pocketed it up.

 Yesterday was no exception. I gathered as many pebbles and shells as my hands could carry before leaving the shore. On my way back as I looked at the pebbles, smoothed and curved by the ageless waves that keeps washing the shore, pebbles of all colours (yellowish brown, greenish blue, a marble textured one maroon, a dim purplish and all sorts!) and shapes, I couldn’t help wondering why is a stone portrayed only as a symbol of cold heartedness, selfishness, difficulty and misery in poetry and literature.

Why a poet compares the heart of an uncaring sweetheart to a stone, why it’s said that all a person have gathered in their lap are stones, when talking about the hard share of fate. I agree stones are hurtled at someone to cause pain but we overlook the action of the person in causing pain and characterize the stone with pain.... stone might be hard but it’s beautiful as well, stone might look ugly and cold but in it home many of creatures of land and water, to moss and fungi and much more. Rocks and stones also live with time as does the trees and the seas. When a sea can be beautiful and lovely in spite of being ruthless, I feel a stone has every right to be so.

I'm not advocating the cause of stones and pebbles here;) I am  merely comparing our perception of stones with our attitude towards people we met and see. How prejudices of color, cast ,creed and appearances makes difference in our thinking. We are reluctant to befriend a simple person, a quite or shy fellow, or a person observing different religion. How easily we tend to neglect those who fail our glittering criteria of cool friends and company or how we don't feel the need to make friends at all, or sometimes we only socialize for incentives.

We judge and evaluate people on their outlook and don't bother look into the person, the heart and soul behind the cover . And in doing so, we sometimes miss the beautiful people, some true and everlasting friendships and relationships we could have earned rather than gathering  fake jewels that fade with time.

So I think it all comes to your love of nature, how you look at it. And I thank God for helping me stay away from this shell of prejudice we have cast around our minds....

Because its not wrong when we say that "Beauty is in the eyes of beholder". 

Shakespere must have thought the same when he said in Love's Labours Lost :

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues