It might not seem like your type of music. On first listen, it didn't make me want to get up, throw my hands up, holla, and shake my booty. But listen to it. The words, they are fantastic, and if they don't seem to do it for you today, give it time:
I know you’re fed up
Like a lead up for us
All they talk about is
What is going down?
What’s been messed up for us?
When I look around I see blue skies
I see butterflies for us.
I wasn't feelin' "it" today so I went for a drive. And in so doing, I caught an eyeful of the beauty in the world. The kind that is tangible, visible, and easy to spot...
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| Blue skies. Beautiful. Clouds? Beautiful.
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| Sometimes, it's the eye of the beholder. |
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| But it's always there. |
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| Dandelions. Weeds, perhaps. But beauty. It knows no boundaries. |
Listen to the sound and lose it
Its sweet music and dance with me
There is beauty in the world
So much beauty in the world
Always beauty in the world
So much beauty in the world...
.
Shake your booty boys and girls for the beauty in the world
Pick your diamond pick your pearl there is beauty in the world
All together now...
No, I didn't have to look hard to find the diamonds and pearls today. Unfortunately, or fortunately--depending on how you look at it--on many days and in many circumstances I need to look a bit harder for the diamonds and the pearls. But, always, they are there. Somewhere, in something.
Like the weather
They say forever
They say
When they’re in between
Notice the blue skies
Notice the butterflies
Notice me.
Stop and smell the flowers
And lose it the sweet music and dance with me
There is beauty in the world
So much beauty in the world
Always beauty in the world
There is beauty in the world.
For me, it's generally easier to find and see beauty in nature than elsewhere. But, equally amazing, albeit for me sometimes harder to see, is the beauty that people bring to the world. Every one of them, people of every kind, and faith. Even the bad apples, in some way, at some time, I think. The beauty (just like the ugliness) is there, in every one of us. Sometimes it is the significant, the man who doesn't leave his wife's side, wipes the dripping milkshake from her chin, and laughs and loves her even though she no longer recognizes him. It's there in the healthy children playing at a park, and it's there in the sweet ones cooped up in hospital beds getting treatment. We see it in the moms and dads who cheer their kids on in Special Olympics. And, we easily see it in the folks with the potential to live very comfortable lives who much prefer to spend their lives and savings working with kids on the street, with people with mental illness, or with fellow humans on other continents who don't enjoy the basic right and blessings that we do. We see it in those people we try to "help," who somehow find beauty in their unpleasant circumstances. It's there in the people, even the politicians at times, who do their darndest to stand up for what they believe to be fair and right and true, even though, we don't quite see the fair, right and true the same.
More often, it's the mundane; the cashier at the grocery store that takes your word that the butter is on sale for $1.99 even though it didn't ring up like that, the person walking in front of you on the sidewalk who reaches down, picks up, and disposes of that empty paper cup that someone who was not so cognizant of the beauty around had thrown down on the ground. It's the driver who waves you into his lane. The postman who covers the extra six cents on your letter instead of "returning to sender." The neighbor who lends you his tractor, or his time. Simple and perhaps insignificant, but beautiful.
I am just so grateful that the beauty is there. We may have to search for our diamond or pearl, or maybe we are just as pleased to find inexpenive substitutions, but we can find it. And people do.
They find it in this place. A house next to I-90, with powerlines overhead, and a collection of junk vehicles in the yard? There's beauty there. They see it. I see it.
It's just about getting the right angle. The right perspective...
The diamonds and pearls may seem rare, trapped in oysters, or in need of polishing. But they are there.
Shake your booty boys and girls for the beauty in the world
Pick your diamond pick your pearl there is beauty in the world
Heya throw your hands up and holla
Throw your hands up and holla
When you don’t know what to do
Don’t know if you’ll make it through
Remember god is giving you beauty in the world
Hey baby when I’m looking at you
I know it’s fact is true
There is hope for love
There is beauty in the world
Hey baby
Hey baby when I’m looking at you
I know this vibe is true
There’s love
There’s hope for love
There’s beauty in the world.
So, throw your hands up and holla! Shake your booty. And promise yourself that if you don't "holla" and "shake your booty" this week, you will use the words "holla" and booty" in a sentence. It's fun. And beautiful.
Today's Song: Beauty in the World by Macy Gray.
