by Edward Goode, Hive Facilitator
photo by Edward Goode
It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. -George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans)
American Beauty (1999) includes one of my favorite movie scenes ever.( https://bit.ly/hive-beauty) . It is simply two people watching a recording of a plastic bag blowing around in the wind on a blustery day. One line has never left me from this scene, “Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world…I feel like I can’t take it.”
I have gone back to that scene so many times, especially with the context of the movie. Two teenagers, both of whom are in the midst of massive conflict and dysfunction in their respective families, and one sensing how much beauty there is in the world that he can’t even take it.
That scene from over 20 years ago sparked something in me that has only started to bloom in recent years – a deep and abiding passion for seeing and sharing beauty. Even or especially in times of deep distress and struggle. It manifests most through the lens of my camera in a daily practice to capture and share beauty for myself and with others.
With so much conflict, anxiety, struggle, and sickness in the world, beauty has never left. Beauty is just as much the stunning blooms of daisies and columbine that are near their peak right now in Glenwood Gardens as it is the plastic bag blowing in the wind. Beauty is felt in the touch of a dear one’s hand on ours as it is in the gentle breeze on a long walk. Beauty is heard in the voice of a special someone or in the melodic sounds that touch us deeply.
Beauty is so necessary in these days of sequestering and fear and anger. Even though we now have new terms like social distancing or the ongoing news cycle of unrest, beauty has never left and is more essential than ever. Whether you are going out for a walk or in your home, where can you find beauty?
Sometimes it will just appear but more often, we need to look. Where will you not only observe it but where will you record it so that you will have that remembrance just as the young man continued to replay the old VHS tape of the bag blowing in the wind.
Sometimes, there’s so much beauty in the world…I just can’t take it in.