Yesterday I had a realization that stemmed from the idea that society fears aging. People believe that the more years they add on to this beautiful life, the less beautiful it becomes, the less beautiful they become. This is a universal idea, which means it applies to more than just human beings and their physical appearance. Our belongings get old, and we throw them out because they have lost their beauty, which means they have lost their worth. We throw those things out, and we get new things. It is an endless cycle of judging when something loses its beauty, and when it means nothing to us anymore. Yesterday I stepped into an antique shop, and what I realized is that beauty is what you as an individual make of it, and from what I understand now, beauty is timeless in every way.

Antique shops are everywhere. It seems like they have been around forever, and I seriously doubt they are leaving us anytime soon. The reason is because people love the beauty they find within them. When I was there, not only was I observing the millions of belongings around me, but I was also observing the people around me, and how they admired the little treasures that the past had to offer. There was a certain calmness that seemed to come from a person when they picked up an old knick-knack, piece of clothing, or household item, but there was also a certain curiosity that radiated from them as well. It was as if they were actively creating a past for the item in their mind; a person or family it had belonged to, and a reason for why it had ended up here. To me, that is what beauty is. Beauty is the calmness and curiosity a person feels when they see a thing of the past.

I felt as if that antique shop was the universal water hole of our society because it felt so incredibly peaceful. It felt like a place that any person of any background could walk in and find something that would interest them, which is incredibly rare nowadays. Now, I know some people would walk in and just see the clouds of dust, the metals full of rust, and smell that certain smell, and just become repulsed by it. But that's the thing about antiques... they are basically a hidden gem. You really have to look closely to find the beauty within it. You do that, and I guarantee you that you will find something that was worth the search. You will find something that will make you smile, or laugh, or even just gasp.

The clouds of dust, the metals full of rust, that certain smell. Calmness and curiosity. Timeless. This is what beauty is.