Beauty in Defiance
I stopped at the Subway near the office for a six-inch roast beef on Italian herbs and cheese.
The young man building it looked as though he had been raised in a tough environment. But he had that something about him that gets my juices flowing.
It was sufficiently strong that I decided to throw finesse to the wind and simply challenge him head on.
“What are you going to be doing twenty years from now?”
He said, “Maybe working right here.”
But he was too big to sidestep the authenticity of my question.
He came back with, “I’m an artist. If this is the only place I work, I will make sandwiches artistically.”
Stunning.
Clear sense of identity.
Little hope of accessing the resources others might have to develop his art.
A defiant determination to BE exactly who he IS, with no excuses about being disadvantaged.
Living life artistically.
Congruent from top to bottom.
Beautiful.
Copyright August 2019 by Arthur Burk
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A Fellow Artist
By : Jennifer Waldon On July 23rd 2020This young man is a unicorn. This fellow is one of my people. And the strength of his grasp of identity IS beautiful. But his circumstances make me profoundly sad, because I can relate to those too. No resources, no platform. No room to create, but determined to BE. May he be blessed with the abundance necessary to flourish as the creative he was designed to be.
Majestic indeed
By : Amy Dudley On August 30th 2019"When you find it within yourself to rise above the junk others threw at you, it is majestic."
This post
By : David MacNelley On August 30th 2019Congruence, when marshaled without excuse, is a gorgeous thing. This leaves me in awe. He will go far in whatever endeavor he chooses.
Beauty
By : Carol Brown On August 29th 2019Beauty to admire, to take in and savor...but not content to just admire, now I want to make this young man happen!
Replied by : Arthur Burk
Thank you for sharing!
By : Lucie Veselka On August 29th 2019Beautiful and pure. Love this. Such an example. Thank you!
Made my day too!
By : Michelle Klingensmith On August 29th 2019Beautiful! Inspiring!
MAKES my day
By : Janis Leal On August 29th 2019I LOVE THIS. This big individual isn't just making sandwiches today -- he made my day! And you, Arthur, for not only seeing the beauty but also sharing it, have, too!
The art of life is most beautiful. The art of living, the art of authentically, wholeheartedly BEING.... despite circumstances and any surrounding ugliness slopped on one's own plate.
I wonder, if in the heart of God, this isn't the most fragrant, fresh, delightfully beautiful thing of all.... today, it is in my own heart.
Thank you so very, very much for tracking the Beauty in plain sight and "serving it up" to those who will savor.
Tears of Joy
By : Donna Bianchi On August 29th 2019Art is the way you live your life.
Touched me to the core.
Beauty in defiance
By : Marie On August 29th 2019That young man has awaken something in me... thank you for sharing