Pink Saturday....looking deep inside

What do you see in the picture?  A sea shell? A conch shell, maybe?  What else?  Is it anything else?

Do you see a home?

Do you see a specimen from the sea?

Do you see one of G-d's most elegant creations?

Do you see the colors and the way they gently blend into one another...pink to white to cream to gold to grey...no lines...just a soft flow from one to another.

Do you see the textures -- can you feel them in your imagination...smooth as silk inside, soft ripples, pointed spires....

Do you imagine it to be a certain size...it's just on a table here, so there is no frame of reference. Is it small enough to fit in a child's palm?  Or large enough to need a table of its own?

There are difference in light and shadow, too...

And then there are the things you feel about it...does it bring back happy memories -- or sad ones?  Does it make you want to plan a visit to the beach?  Or does it remind you of the shells you have in your home, and a trip is unnecessary?  Or is it something exotic, something you cannot imagine finding out in the "wild" on a beach?

Is it still "just a sea shell" or is it all the things you see and feel about it?  

Now take that lesson, and apply it to people.  Are they just what you see at first glance, a single thing?  Or are they, really, the total of their shapes and colors and functions and voices and the memories you have of other people like them? Can you see the subtlety in shades of skin, accent, the curve of a cheek, the use of language and the way they move through the world?  Can you see beyond rough protective spires, an exotic origin, or size, to get to the beauty within?

Can we look deeper?  ...

Happy Pink Saturday!