“What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.” — Sappho,
Is this months precept, and I have a good perspective on what I believe this quote means. It has some relation to the story of “Wonder” Because of what is says. What is beautiful is good, that makes sense, take for example trees: they are beautiful and they do good for the earth because trees gives us oxygen. Now who is good will soon be beautiful, that relates to the story Wonder by a lot! If you haven’t read the story Wonder yet, by R.J Palacio, don’t worry, no spoilers. In the story , Auggie has a deformed face as i would call it, which doesn’t make him physically beautiful, but since he is such a heart-filled person, and is such a friendly fun guy to hang around, that will make others see he is beautiful because of that, and that he doesn’t need a beautiful face, he just needed a beautiful personality.
Now that I’ve explained what i think the precept means, I guess i’ll give my thoughts on it. I do agree with the meaning of this precept, but there are a few things wrong in my opinion. Not to get to specific in the precept but not all things that are beautiful are good. Take for example food, some foods look beautiful but they could be really unhealthy for you. Tell me if I got a little off topic or if you agree! Anyways, the “who is good will soon be beautiful” part is great, and i don’t think i could dis agree with that statement.
I think getting specific in your comments about this precept is exactly what you should do. Being specific helps give your ideas & your writing focus and makes it easier to understand. It also forces you to keep your writing clear and on-topic.
Some of your classmates seem to agree that beauty does not necessarily imply goodness, but goodness should be part of our definition of beauty. I’m inclined to agree that we should be able to recognise beauty in people and things that are good. But is there room for beauty as something separate from and different than goodness? Should there be? What do we mean by saying that something is good? Do we even agree on that?