Fellow Devients. For those of you who know me you may know that I write an editorial column called The Midnight Writer for those of you who don't know me. Now you know I write a column.

Below is a small snippet from my column having to due with wondering what the definition of True Beauty is.

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July 5, 2008, Well yesterday was Independence Day and it went according to plan, a parade, stuff to do, something with family, andkick off the night with fireworks provided by Huntsville city all in all a fairly productive day.

But now I have a question to put to my readers a question that has been bothering me since I spoke to one of my friends.

My friend is constantly seeing things that she enjoys from something that could be considered beautiful to something as entirely opposite and she still says that all of these things are beautiful. The other day I told her that I believed that the word Beautiful was meant to be reserved for certain special things and since then I have had difficulty not finding something even slightly beautiful in almost everything I see.

But here is the question that I put to my readers. What is truly beautiful? Not, necessarily what thing is truly beautiful, but what is the definition of true beauty? Shouldn’t the word ‘Beautiful’ be saved for certain special things or moments?

Here is what I think. The world people live in was once something beyond beautiful. There are still signs of that true beauty far away from cities and high on mountains far away from the industries of man. The world has distorted the meaning of the word beautiful. What was once a green overgrown hill would be considered an ugly mark on the land to a land developer. But once that green hill is covered in condominiums and newly refurbished houses the land developer looks at it as ‘a beautiful thing’. Examples of the world’s definition of beautiful and proof that it has been distorted are shown through evidence in everything people are exposed to; movies, television, magazines, music. It is shown through everything people see everyday and everyone grows so used to it that their minds begin to see things the same way.

To people who live in New York City their whole life Central park is ‘Beautiful’ and when they die that will have been the height of their definition of the word. But for this Photo-Journalist true beauty isn’t in an everyday thing it is something that can only be found in something that isn’t common something that is out of the ordinary that wouldn’t be easy to find in our world. The stars in the heavens untouched by human hands; a field of flowers hidden deep in the mountains where no one could see it unless it took them hours to reach it because only then could they appreciate how truly beautiful it is. The view from high upon a mountain with the sight of fields rivers lakes and valleys all far away from civilization; a simple kiss with a loved one; a waterfall deep in a green wood with tree’s standing taller than any skyscraper ever could; the ocean and the sound of crashing waves onto a sandy beach; a pure modest woman unchanged by what the world might think of her; the moon, the sun, the clouds a rainstorm that lasts through the night and the sound of each individual drop of water hitting the dirt, a tree, a rock and all collecting to form a small stream to tumble downhill never knowing where it will end up. To me the only truly beautiful things in life are those that are natural those that were never distorted or changed and then still called beautiful.

I invite every person on the face of the earth to look around them and open their eyes to what is Truly Beautiful. There is so much more around the world than what people see from day to day and sometimes it just takes a second to look around and find it.

And so I ask my readers, what is True Beauty?
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Also a reminder about my contest [link]