This week’s guest blogger is Karen Tinlin, another dedicated member of our Board of Directors who shares this thoughtful, reflective message…
Real People… Really Beautiful to Me
by Karen Tinlin
A new year is an opportunity for a fresh start, but I’m also reminded of opportunities and lives lost last year that give me pause and make me consider how things might be different.
As 2014 ended, we lost an iconic blues and rock musician, Joe Cocker, whose lyrics and thoughts moved me through the years. One song in particular that I’m looking at in a different way now in this new stage of my life is “You Are So Beautiful,” released in 1974. In the song, two very important words follow the title statement. They truly make all the difference in the meaning of these lyrics. I had only a vision of our traditional concept of beauty for many years, but hearing this song, the important words that follow are “to me.”
It occurs to me now that what he meant—while there may be a current cultural version of beauty, he saw beauty through his own eyes based on all the other qualities that make us beautiful. I realize that for years, I have defined being a reinstated KOPS as when I can again be beautiful. I have denied for years the value and other beauty that was there in a hundred other ways.
This year I will remember that joy, pride, self-esteem, happiness, fun and adventures don’t need to be placed on hold until I reach my KOPS goal again.
- I will be excited in the process.
- I will revel in each small step forward.
- I will treat myself with the same respect that I do others.
- I will enjoy being the best I can be each day.
To answer Joe Cocker, “Yes, I can finally see that I am beautiful as I am.”
Thanks, Karen… you truly are beautiful!
I Care, Barb
