Why Beauty Will Save the World
"I believe the world will be saved by beauty."
This is what Prince Lev Nikolyaevich Myshkin, the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel "The Idiot," claims.
This is where the all-too-popular quote "Beauty will save the world" comes from.
The first time I read it, my immediate reaction was, "How stupid, how naive." And I believe a lot of people react the same way to it. I also believe that our reaction speaks more about us at that point in our lives than it does about this line by Dostoevsky.
But as my attitude towards life changed, I had different ideas of why beauty might actually save the world.
At some point, I thought I was going to write about listening to Lucia Swarts of the Netherlands Bach Society play Cello Suite 1 and thinking, "All of life was worth it just for this moment. Everything that ever happened is justified by this moment of beauty."
That is how I thought beauty would save the world. And I am not saying that I don’t believe in that kind of "salvation" through beauty anymore.
However, this time I want to write about a recent experience that got me thinking about beauty saving the world in a new way, and has made me as hopeful of that being possible as I ever was.
For the last couple of months, I’ve had a favorite place where I like to come to sit down and write.
On the top floor of a mall, there is a coffee shop that has a terrace full of exotic greenery and is positioned in such a way that it gets the maximum amount of sunlight during the day. There are also two artificial ponds on the terrace. It’s a relaxing place that gets you as close to the feeling of being in nature as you can get in the middle of a concrete jungle where you are always surrounded by mountains of glass and steel.
One day, when I finished my work and decided to stay and just look around, I noticed the mall security guard come to the terrace. I knew this wasn’t his usual position because I remembered seeing him on the floor below every day when I was coming here.
He was acting strange. He was looking around him and over his shoulder, not like a security guard would, but like someone who was worried if he was going to be seen or caught doing something.
As someone who was taught to be aware of his surroundings and pay attention to people who are acting suspiciously, this got me worried. I decided to pay close attention to what he was doing.
At this point, it was obvious that he wasn’t on duty. He wouldn’t be able to behave in such a way if he was. He was probably on break. He was moving along the greenery and approached the pond.
Maybe he thought that he was being smooth, but he wasn’t. Or maybe I became too good at observing suspicious-looking people.
With his back turned to the pond, even though it was obvious that there was something about the pond that he was interested in, he reached into his pocket. He took out a bowled-up paper napkin. He carefully unfolded it. He couldn't afford to have his back turned on the pond any longer; he had to face it. Now he was holding a sort of improvised cup made out of the napkin in one hand. He reached with his other hand into this cup and took something that was too small for me to see.
He leaned over the pond and extended his arm. On a face that was filled with worry about not being seen, a gentle smile appeared. He started feeding the fish in the pond. I wasn't even aware that there were fish inside up to that point. That gentle smile stayed on his face the whole time he was taking the fish food from his improvised cup and throwing it into the pond.
When he was done, he folded the napkin and returned it to his pocket. I guess his break was finished, so he left the terrace.
Ever since that day, I've made sure to stick around for a while and wait, regardless of whether I'm done with work or not. He shows up every day during his break to feed the fish. He is always equally careful and worried about not being noticed. I have no idea if it’s because feeding the fish is prohibited or if he’s just shy.
But when he starts throwing the food into the pond, he always has that same gentle smile on his face.
I think I know some people like him. That’s why I will give myself the freedom to assume that he is not necessarily a fish person. If he were placed in a different setting, someone else would see him playing with a kid, helping an elderly person, saving an injured animal, or simply giving his love and support to someone who needs it. Whatever situation you put him in, he would be changing this world for the better with his small, but great, acts. I think you know at least one person like this too.
He is not a fish person. He is a beautiful person.
And yes, I agree. This world can and will be saved by beauty.
Thank you for reading.
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