On Wednesday morning, after dropping by the lab to develop some Western blot film, I set off for Kentwood-via-Columbus. It was a lovely, sunny day as I traveled southwest past California, Houston, and Washington. I entered West Virginia and had one of the loveliest drives ever with the rolling hills of the mountains looming on either side of the freeway. Within an hour after leaving Pittsburgh I was in Ohio (3 states in one hour…wow) where it promptly began to snow.
I met my brother on the campus of Ohio State University, where he goes to school, and we had lunch. I had a brief tour of part of the massive campus (so like Michigan State University…ahh!...yay!!) and, while Jonathan was at quantum mechanics class (what big sister would not want to accompany her brother to that class? I know, what a silly sister I am.) I visited the main library (and this!). Then we set off through rush-hour-plus-we’re-afraid-of-snow traffic and went 60 miles in first the two hours of our trip out of Columbus.
Finally we arrived in Kentwood in not bad time at all, and the next morning when I awoke on Thanksgiving…the world around was covered with a blanket of snow. Perfect! The only non-perfect aspect of the day was that my sister is still in California and wasn’t with us.
As I traveled through the “tristate area” I decided that it would be a wonderful place to live. And I was struck by the realization that it’s fairly well agreed upon that certain things in nature are beautiful. Why is that? What is it that makes a sunset or a mountain or an ocean? Is it because it’s something we humans cannot create? Is beauty something that’s qualitative, or are there actually absolutes in beauty?
1 comment:
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving with your family.
As for the beauty question ... I know that humans are hard-wired to find a baby's features appealing, but not everyone is drawn to the same kinds of natural (as in "nature) beauty. For example, I love prairies ... the rolling hills, the sweep of sky, the cloud shadows moving across the landscape ... and while I can recognize that more forested areas are beautiful, they don't do much for me. I think this is because I grew up in a Plains state ... what I find beautiful is what I know and feels like home. I would not go so far as to say that everyone has that experience, though. Some may feel very unconnected to the area where they live, and only at home somewhere very different.
Interesting question.
Post a Comment