Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Did you ever just stand and watch the sky change on one of the beautiful nights as the sun sets? The colors and shades of colors change in an amazing variety in a matter of minutes and the best of artists would have trouble capturing all the nuances of the transition. And yet people walk, drive, run, or stroll past such scenes over and over without noticing. We do that with people as well. especially if the beauty is internal and not external. We rush by people who we think are not the beautiful people as if they were invisible. We pass by multiple shades of a perfect sunset in human skin and are too busy or too distracted or too self absorbed to notice. I've often spoken about my experience as a priest. I'm out in the yard doing some dirty task and discover I need something at the store so I jump in the car get the item and stand in line to pay. People avoid being near me. The next day dressed in normal civilian clothes I stand in a similar line and people might acknowledge me, or maybe not but they don't avoid being near me. The next day I'm in the same line in my clergy clothes and someone is asking me to solve their marriage problems in line in three minutes or less. I'm the same guy but you wouldn't think so. Change of clothes and I'm a beautiful person all of a sudden. How much we miss with our judgements. The beauty we walk by every day without appreciating it. I've known lots of externally beautiful people that I would just as soon have missed, but you just can't tell without taking the time to get to know them.