Blogs by Flo Fitzpatrick
Beauty
1/20/2026 6:04:42 AM
Before transferring to S.M.U. and earning a degree in Dance, I spent a couple of years at Baylor as a drama major. One of my favorite teachers there was Patricia (Pat) Cook, whom I had for Acting and Theater History. When I returned to Baylor for my graduate degree, I was fortunate enough to have Mrs. Cook for Directing and Dramatic Criticism. I learned so much from all of her classes, including an ability to focus that has been a blessing and curse) but the lessons that stuck the most came from Theater History.
She didn’t teach the course as “memorize the date of the play and the playwright’s background and where it was first performed.” We extensively analyzed each chosen play with specific criteria that included theme, plot, dialogue, characters, tempo, and environment. Yeah. Environment. Time. Place. Climate. As in how things like weather or locale influenced the protagonist’s actions. How the attitudes in an era were reflected in the play. (I still try to use these criteria in my novels..not sure I always succeed) !
One of the concepts that really resonated came from the Greek dramatists’ attitude about the world around them.
The belief was “If you gaze upon beauty, you become beautiful. If you look at ugliness, you become ugly.” It was meant both literally and metaphorically. Check out Greek statues sometime (that’s why we have the internet…for those of us who can’t quite manage a visit to Athens or Crete) ! The lines and expressions aren’t strident or grotesque or warped. They reflect beauty. (I’ve wondered since if Christianity didn’t stray from the idea of peace and love thanks to some pretty nasty gargoyles perching on cathedrals…not to mention medieval art depicting the tortures of hell rather than images of Jesus surrounded by a group of smiling disciples).
Back to the Greeks. It wasn’t their intent to avoid ugly. The point was not to dwell on it or raise it to a place of worship.
And here we are, about 2500 years later, living in a world of way too much ugly. It hits us every time we log on to the computer. It hits us morning, noon, night and every hour on the hour in each news cycle.
I try (don’t always succeed) in only posting photos on Facebook or in emails that are beautiful. Displaying an image of a dancer caught in mid-air or a child snuggling with a new puppy. I do my darndest NOT to post pictures of anyone in 47’s administration. Because these people are ugly. Not physically (although plastic surgery on a certain head of Homeland Security has created a…less-than-pleasant countenance.) But sadly, this is internal ugliness that manages to extend to the external. When these people smile (which is seldom) these are not smiles reflecting beautiful thoughts. These are nasty smiles of satisfaction upon seeing the suffering they impose on others. Sneers toward anyone who doesn’t worship at their cult of ugliness.
For weeks now, I’ve been first hitting the posts on the monks’ Walk for Peace where I can gaze at the beauty that shines on their weary faces. They don’t avoid the harsh realities of what’s happening but they don’t pass out leaflets with images meant to inflame or sadden. They give (and are gifted with) flowers. They are most often greeted by the grateful smiles of the thousands who have lined up on the roads simply for a glimpse of the beauty they project with every step.
Again, not saying avoid what’s happening. We need to be aware. We need to be flooding our representatives’s offices with emails and letters exhorting them to…well…save the country. We need to be (peacefully) protesting any way we can.
But we desperately need to take the time daily to gaze upon beauty. Online. Outdoors. Don’t pass over the simple sight of a bird landing on your porch railing taking a short breather. There’s so much beauty to be found watching parents holding the hands of their children and smiling down at them.
Embrace the concept of gazing upon beauty and becoming beautiful.
Don’t allow ugly to win.
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