The quest for Beauty wherever it may be

I should have known something was up when I got into the elevator today to see a camerman preparing to meet his story.

The hotel is holding the prequalifying contests for Miss Italy and there were many beautiful young women at breakfast in the Holiday Inn! We are so smart and yet so unbelieveably naive in the observation of true beauty. Each one of these girls about to present themselves as beautiful next to a landscape that once was the epitomy of beauty. From a beauty pageant to a work of art. My observation of Europe is saddened by the vandalism that I see on almost every statue and work of art. How sad that we are not able to view the true beauty of such amazing efforts from our collective past without a message sent from a paint can interrupting that which was truly given of love. So incredible to sense a loss of respect for that which has been before us. Not so different from the sadness of our brothers and sisters from Louisiana. My heart sees both and acknowledges the true beauty in both parts of the world that is before me. Beauty is not just surface deep, as I can see beyong the vandalism and still understand the beauty the artist was projecting. I see it also in the grace of the faces of those who find their loved ones that they thought were lost. It is in the grace of the stranger who offers to help an old woman onto a waiting stretcher. It is in the grace of our own hearts singing the song of love. Being peaceful and sending you love, Kathleen