beautiful is unselfish

have you been reminded lately, about what is beauty? beauty is not elbow-length, perfectly curled dirty blonde hair. beauty is not straight white teeth or a tight little body or long eyelashes or a belly with no chub. beauty is not skin without scars or daily lotioned hands.

but i forget that.

beauty is the hug that you give to a new friend, the hug that you give when you're shy and you'd rather be alone and you'd rather not reach out and start a potentially draining conversation. but you did it anyway, and that is beautiful. beauty is the sunlight making your eyes sparkle and glisten and beauty is the tears that fall downward because loving broken people hurts. i think that everyone is beautiful when they are loving someone else. beauty is unselfishness, isn't it? i realize this and my deep frustration at what we have accepted as beauty and defined as beauty, having little to do with love, begins to make more sense. because all along, i have know that self is not beautiful. body doesn't make beauty. giving does. it is beautiful to pour out and serve and give and be misunderstood and be rejected. it is beautiful to love. because in those moments, for a moment, we forget about ourselves.