Only Because There Is Ugliness

Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty, only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil. ~ Lao-tzu

I’ve quipped for years
Hell is floating around
playing a harp all day,
every day, forever and ever.
No, it may not be Hell
but it sure as heck isn’t Heaven.
I’ve obsessed over many things,
activities I loved, projects fascinating,
but they grow old, become tedious,
lose their appeal, make me want more,
different, a new challenge.
Would you enjoy full-time life
with the four people you love best?
Isn’t there a need for different?
Ugly is not ugly
any more than beauty is beauty.
An evil act may be the best way
for the person doing it to show love.
Our job is to clean our side of the street.
Other people are not ours to judge,
to condemn. Other people are there to love
even when society has mandated
certain responses to actions.
Society doesn’t tell us
who is beautiful, who is ugly,
who is to be loved.

beauty-ugly