On Black Sheep and Beauty

Originally posted October 21, 2020 - 
​In our lives we are painted many colors. These colors are never our choice, as we rarely get to choose how we are perceived by the world around us. 
Years ago, I was painted the blackest of blacks.
 
I saw this as a negative thing and strove to change my color, but I found that I could not. 
I began to see myself in the way that world saw me: as the color of the abyss, a fearful color, something ugly and foreboding. Something that needed to be hidden. 
But that was before.... Before I found my chosen family.... For they too had been painted black.
We were each told that our color was shameful. Something unwanted.
 
But we were able to see something far more beautiful. 
In truth, my newfound family was a cacophony of color; dazzlingly beautiful, like a cloud nebula. The colors blending and mixing perfectly to create something that even the heavens above would envy.
 
And as I observed their celestial arrays of dazzling brilliance, I realized that I too had that within me. 
When I looked around at those who had labeled me, I saw the dingy facade that they placed before the world. They danced an intricate dance to play off the dusty, sorry attempt at the daring displays that my family of choice could enact so effortlessly. 
It was the same ritual, the same performance, but one was done with solemn dignity, each step placed in front of the other by rote. There was no rhythm or life to it. 
But.... In the beauty of the dark was *our* soul. We let ourselves feel the hearts of those in the moment with us. We felt no shame, no regret. Only joy in the freedom of each other. And in this darkness, true life and light are born. 
We judge so harshly and quickly, those who differ from us. Yet we cannot have beauty without diversity. If all the world were yellow, we would soon tire of it and no longer appreciate the subtle variances that this hue has to offer. And so it is with people. 
I am grateful that I have been painted black. For now I see that I am the storm in the evening that brings the rain. I am the peaceful night sky that will soon brighten and fill with stars. I am the depths of the sea, holding within me the mysteries of life. And within me burns the suns of a thousand unsung galaxies. Each one waiting to be released into the void and to sparkle like a diamond in the eyes of the beholder. 
So shine on, my darkest lovelies. 
Come and learn the dance that makes the stars stand still and bask in our glory. 
For I am but one of many children who have learned to embrace the night.