Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
In multiple psychology courses, I have been required to take the VIA (Values in Action) Character Strengths and Virtues test. The assessment covers 24 strengths and virtues, some of which include bravery, hope, creativity and fairness, and ranks them according to the test taker’s responses.
My list of strengths has varied every time, but my top strength has always been “Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence.” I was initially a little surprised to see this quality on the list, since it seems like a somewhat neutral category of behavior.
Over the years, as I’ve given it more thought, I have started to notice more ways that this trait generally influences me and other people. Most people are drawn to beauty as a concept, but beauty takes different forms and influences behavior to varying degrees.
Beauty is often discussed in terms of the physical appearance of human beings. While the beauty of people is significant and has vital implications in social psychology and culture, it is not the only way that beauty manifests in the world and it may be beneficial to look for it where it is least expected.
There is a marshy area close to where I live that my family used to take walks in. On one side of it is the ocean and on the other side are oil wells.
The water is murky and the grass is brittle. The oil wells and the distant power stations are a bleak reminder of the natural world’s corruption.
And yet, this is one of my favorite places to go when I’m at home, and I consider it a beautiful place. In the evenings when the sun is out, everything is cast in a strange red light and the place takes on an otherworldly quality.
When I’m walking through that area, I am reminded of all the evenings I spent there with other people. When I am there I rarely feel alone even if I am, and the same goes for any place where I have positive memories.
There are many other things which merge beauty and ugliness. My relatives frequent a fairly run-down pasta place where we all meet to catch up, and while we joke about its “dark and kind of disgusting charm,” I’ve always looked forward to going there.
When we invite friends who’ve never been, I get the sense that they don’t understand why our family bothers with it. But I grew up associating the place with family and good times, and I find something very comforting about its ordinary shabbiness.
Another place people can find beauty is in speech and writing. Authors of brief stories and novels sometimes write according to rhythmic patterns, and their prose is easy to read as if it’s poetry or music.
One of the books I loved as a kid, and still love now, is “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery. The protagonist is adopted at 11 years old, and while her eccentricities and bad temper cause problems for her, she has a gift for imagination that carries her through challenges.
As is characteristic of much of Montgomery’s work, the book goes into detail about natural beauty and its power over human beings. It also describes the highest and the lowest of the human experience, and the author’s painful depth of emotion evokes both joy and despair.
Stories like this allow people to remember what makes them who they are. I think the recognition of beauty, in all kinds of forms, is the soul insisting upon itself.
In difficult and simple times, it is crucial to remember those small things that connect us to one another and make us hopeful. Whether they are universally or personally beautiful, I think everybody has the potential to recognize beauty when they see it.
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Contact Alyssa Johnson via email: alyssa.johnson@pepperdine.edu
