Thursday, May 7, 2009

Assigning Value

My sister Sarah used a great word recently - well, to be fair, she's probably used A LOT of great words lately, but this one stuck out in my mind when she responded to my blog. * Arbitrary *

Because we're moving soon, my dictionaries are packed, so I had to go to Dictionary.com on the internet to verify the definition. Now, I'm very wordy, so I kinda/sorta (real intellectual terminology, right, Mom?) know the meaning, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't too off-base. Turns out I was right.

Arbitrary: undetermined; not assigned a specific value.

I started thinking about this blog entry as "What is Beautiful" or "Who is Beautiful" because I think that's an interesting concept. But if you examine it, as the aeons-old phrase notes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," you understand even at an early age that what is beautiful to one person isn't so beautiful to another. Why? You know why - because we're all different. What we notice is different, the value we assign to something is different, so consequently, we view beauty as diversely as we view everything else.

So this blog, "What / Who is Beautiful" becomes "What / Who is Beautiful to Me."

My family is beautiful, because I value them beyond what I value anything else.
My sister-in-law Sean is beautiful - she is deeply intelligent, loves my brother, and raises my terribly clever nephew.
My parents are beautiful - they love me beyond my mistakes, and always forgive me.
My sisters are beautiful - Kristi is fearless, bold and graceful / Jen is confident, funny and sharp / Sarah is daring, expressive and adventurous.
My brother is beautiful - he is opinionated, devoted, and so much like my father.
My brother-in-law is beautiful - he is witty, intelligent, and made quite the adorable little girl with my sister.
My husband is beautiful - he is devoted, goofy, and in love with me!
My daughters are beautiful - Cassandra is grounded and genuine / Kelsey is strong and caring.
My son is beautiful - he is sweet, talkative, and loves to hug me.

But, what else? I mean, really, let's expose what is really beautiful to THIS beholder:

Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation) - I used to tell my friends I wanted to take his bald head and rub it between my bare breasts. If you can't handle the visual, just don't think about it.
Hugh Jackman (X-Men: Wolverine) - Come on, have you looked at his body? Wow!
Angela Basset - Stella got her groove. . . and might have stolen a little of mine.
Lake Mead, Nevada - Waterskiing? In the desert? Ah, memories of when I was cute and trim, and could out-waterski most of my family. DO NOT DENY IT!
Jeep Wrangler - THE coolest car ever made.
Jimmy Hendrix - Dancing to Fire on a four-foot stucco wall, when I was single, living with Roxie and Yvonne, learning that there are some songs and some musicians who will never wilt under the passage of time. (No, Roxie, not Led Zepplin)
Harry Potter - Imagination becomes real, becomes a movie, becomes an industry, becomes the one sweet thing that makes some of my headaches go away. Thanks, Ms. Rowling.
Movies that make me cry - If even the most ridiculous movie reminds me about the importance of humanity and love and connection, then it is beautiful. Rudy - Go Sean Astin! Finding Nemo - Did you see how much Marlin loved his little boy? Cars - I mean, Lightning McQueen gave up the Piston Cup to give another man (okay, another car) his dignity back. That is beautiful! Scrooge (Albert Finney version), It's a Wonderful Life (Duh), virtually any Christmas movie that doesn't have Tori Spelling. . .

Seriously, I could go on and on, but. . . as my brother might point out, I already have.

Beautiful is witnessing the learning moment of a child. Beautiful is working your ass off for a year and completing a marathon (you knew I would eventually mention that, right?) Beautiful is walking across a portable stage and receiving a diploma for which you suffered blood, sweat and tears (you're damn right, TEARS!). Beautiful is finally understanding Shakespeare, even if it took three movie versions of Hamlet to get there.

What is beautiful? You tell me.

2 comments:

  1. I see beauty as I read my children's blog posts. It gives me a view of their inner beings that I never had (or took) the time to see when they were growing up.

    Your dad's thought for the day:
    "Between Heaven and earth is a space like a bellows, empty and inexhaustible, the more it is used, the more it produces". The Tao - 5th Verse.
    Like the mind (ideas) come to fruitiion and grow as they are sent out, given away, and others fill the void. There is no vacumn in the universe. Giving completes the universe. Tide (flow) of ideas from the Source and receiving must surely follow.

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  2. You were a badass waterskier, no doubt.
    Rudy Rocks!
    C, K, M = absolute gems.

    Kath, your smiles, giggles, laughter and general effervescent bubbliness was a desperately needed balance to all my painful, dark moods, growing up. I was SO lucky to have you by my side then. Even if I didn't show it, I always felt it.

    YOU are exquisite, inside and out.

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