I wouldn't say

I'm particularly rich by societies standards,

but on the front of wealth

measured by experience and valuable lessons,

I would consider myself very wealthy.

On another hand

I would rather say "grateful".

I have almost completely lost interest

in exploring for what I can see,

and I have discovered far more beauty

lying beneath the surface of the people all around me.

Traveling as I am,

staying in each place

for an average of six months

has enabled me

to not only see the beauty of the place lying on the surface,

but also the glories and riches

embedded in the cultures

built by the people dwelling in them.

The call to travel

is definitely one that has addressed my heart unignorably.

But not just for the sights

and the sounds of what is foreign,

but for the hearts of the people there

and their stories.

I would definitely say that

these gems

-some call nothing MORE than stories-

are what I find MOST valuable.

My soft heart leaps from my chest

with every tale

of every real person

I have had such an amazing opportunity to meet

One broken

and left out to dry

by the man she gave her purest love to,

another

recklessly passionate

and inspiringly unstoppable

in his pursuit for what drives him,

yet another

overflowing with wisdom gained by experiences

many of us could not even bare the thought

of encountering ourselves.

Yet these stories are unknown

and left hidden

beneath the lack of an accepting world.

Often greeted by disregard and disvalue,

shunned by society

and left to be ignored

for their lack

of conformity to what the masses would call publicly acceptable.

Now uncovered by a willing heart eager to find them,

I call them beautiful.

However!

I do not disvalue those

that join the ranks of the disapproving masses!

Instead,

I also find you beautiful.

Among you

are some of the most beautiful souls one can find.

I find these stories adrift among

the angry, the joyful,

the judgmental , the accepted,

the broken, the proud,

the loved and the hated.

With every beating heart

and the legend left by those

that beat on with in each of us,

there lies a beauty

that cannot be summed in words,

but by thehumbled eye,

beheld.

Behold this beauty for yourself,

and I guarantee you,

We ARE the beauty of this world.

Together, apart,

united, divided,

in greatness and awe,

in brokenness and shamed…

YOU…are the beauty of this world.

YOU are the priceless gems that make our world worthy.

YOU,the sum of all that is good and all that is bad within you that makes you who you are…

YOU are WORTHY.