Beauty is truth, truth beauty;
These are eternal words by John Keats in his famous ‘Ode on the Grecian Urn’ written in 1819.
Such simple words with great meaning – a fantastic expression of a noble thought.
All that is beautiful is true; and all that is true has to be beautiful!
This makes me think – how often have we tried to stay away from what’s truly us and therefore stay ugly. Whereas it would have been so much easier to be what we are, not fudge, and remain our beautiful selves.
As children, we are taught to be ambitious, aim for bigger professions, excel in academics and always keep ahead of the race. We are also asked to idolize famous people and learn from them. But here’s some thought - What if I don’t feel like racking my brains with complex Integration and Algebra? What if I don’t want to be a super Programmer or a Doctor or a globe-trotting high flier? What if I just don’t feel like running the same race but simply walk or jog or just sit under a tree!
Although, it is good to be ambitious and work towards a grand goal, it is equally important to ascertain if the grand goal we are running for is actually our own dream goal and not one concocted by society, teachers, family, or peer pressure.
Aspiring to be a better self is definitely healthy as long as we don’t digress from our own path, our own conviction. If someone or something inspires us so much so that we want to just imbibe it completely and thoughtlessly, we change the greatest quality of God’s creation – our uniqueness. Trying to ape blindly is trying to run away from the truth. And as we run away from our true selves, we lose some of our natural shine and goodness. This definitely makes us less beautiful!
So take pride in who you are - your thoughts, your education, your family, what you wear. There is no need to fudge. The world will like you as you are or at the least, will not care much anyway.
Let not anyone make you afraid of your beautiful self. Aim to be truthful; aim to be beautiful.
