What Does Beauty Mean? [아름다움에 대한 짧은 철학]

There are words everyone longs to hear.

When I was young, I wanted to be told that I was pretty.

But as I grew older, I found myself wanting to hear a different word—beautiful.

Beauty in the sense of being pretty can become familiar with time.

But true beauty only grows deeper the more we come to understand it.

There are people whose presence somehow makes us feel at ease.

Perhaps it is because they carry roots that run deep—strong roots we cannot see.

Even the most beautiful flower will eventually bow its head when placed in a vase without roots.

But a wildflower rooted deeply in the earth does not easily bend, even when the wind blows.

For a flower to keep blooming,

it must first have deep roots.

Perhaps people are not so different.

Flowers do not compete with one another.

A rose blooms as a rose, and a wildflower blooms as a wildflower.

Perhaps beauty is the same.

It is not about becoming like someone else,

but about blooming as yourself, right where you are.

A wildflower may not be the most dazzling flower in the field,

yet it carries a fragrance that belongs only to itself, rooted deeply in the earth.

The Areum is drawn to the things that remain longer than what is simply beautiful at first glance.

We want to record the things that stay in the heart, rather than simply catching the eye.

We believe beauty is not something we gain by comparing ourselves to others,

but something that slowly reveals itself as we learn to live more fully as ourselves.

Today, what beauty did you discover?