6

Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder.” This is a well-known line, a popular line, and It sounds like the most reasonable thing in the world. After all, everybody likes different things. You like old paintings; I like modern artists. You like mountain vistas; I like forests and waterfalls. We have different ideas of what’s beautiful, and in the end, it’s all a private, individual decision. You like what you like; I like what I like. Each of us decides. If the right person is looking, anything may be beautiful because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That’s the way life is, and the thought seems to cover everything. 

 But it does not. That’s not the way life is. The thought is not only empty, it is dangerous. Think a little. Do you think an infant is beautiful, A normal, healthy infant? Certainly. Do you think a diseased, starving infant is beautiful? No. Doesn’t matter who is beholding it. You may or may not think a particular garden is beautiful, but no one thinks a trash heap is beautiful.  There are some things that are never beautiful.  There are some things that are ugly.  Beauty is not always in the eye of the beholder.