"Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist-a master-and that is what Auguste Rodin was-can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is...and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be...and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart...no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn't matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired-but it does to them."
— Robert A. Heinlein
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tahitinut:
@ainoa @verde @rudeboy71 @maggie_fracture @texsin @roz @lita @roguerequest -- Thank you SO much, guys!!! It means so much to me that others see the incredible truth and beauty in this. It was my own grandmother who both taught me this and taught me unconditional love. A 5x5 woman upon whose amplitude I, as an infant, slid soapily and gleefully down into the bathwater, she was my "favorite girl" and most valued teacher. I'll never forget the epiphany of looking at her in the nursing home and actually seeing this vivacious and vibrant teen-aged girl sitting there in front of me!!! I didn't even think about rubbing my eyes because the Beautiful Truth she revealed to me was so clear and so obvious. It was at that time that my memory of Heinlein's words was tattoo'd into my brain cells forever.
ferkixlll:
"Be wary of strong drink. It tends to make you shoot at revenue agents, and miss." Lazerus Long aka R. H. . Good topic.