I have long desired to write something purely random stuffs, about snow when winter came. Yesterday, my friend told me that my hometown is now covering with very thick snow and ice. So I decide to write about snow. “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” said Pablo Picasso. But it seems that my soul has been buried with too much dust as the life abroad has never been an easy thing. Sometimes, It is also hard for me to discover the real beauty of snow or perhaps the beauty of my own life. I still remember when I was very young, I loved snow very much. I often played with some of my friends in the snow-covered ground, chasing each other, throwing snow balls to each other and laughing out loudly. Every time when I think of snow, I tend to recall my childhood time. Very strangely, I sometimes feel that I am quite lonely in such an unfamiliar place. Even the snows, which I believe, are so unfamiliar. However, I never expected that I could see snow here in Spain. I quickly took a snapshot. It really shocked me while I was waiting for school shuttle bus. I knew that it was exactly the beauty that I have long aspired to.
Perhaps, snow is certainly something that would wash the dust of my souls. It provides me eternal tranquility and peacefulness. I feel that internally I was moved and touched at that very special moment. Even now, the effect is long-lasting. It was just an ordinary bus stop but everything was thoroughly changed by the white snow. If I was an art student, I would simply conduct a visual analysis about this picture. I will try to describe what is happening in the foreground and background. What special techniques that the photographer has employed in taking this picture. How is the color combination reinforcing the overall impression to target audiences. I really try very hard to answer these questions. But honestly speaking, I could only use one simple word to describe what I saw -- “Beauty”. As a matter of fact, almost everyone will see snows during the winter season but many of them are not fortunate enough to appreciate the “beauty” of snows. Perhaps many people merely perceive the snow as a form of water or ice. “Alas” I might tell these people, “Look at the snowy land out there! Everything is painted with white color. Trees are no longer trees but men sleeping under a white covering sheet. Even the buildings from afar are also sleeping very peacefully.”
I want to share this unnoticeable beauty to others. It is very true that people might interpret the picture of snow from different visions or angles but the thing I would like to share is rather straightforward. Beauty is always surrounding us. It is just that we may not discover it yet. When a seed is sprouting, it is beauty. When a group of egrets are flying over, it is beauty. When Sakura flowers are falling and scattering around, it is beauty. When our world is covered with the white snows, without any doubt my friends, it is also called beauty. It was only this moment when I saw snow that I started to forget about my childhood life and my homesick. I started to realize that I was here right now in the campus.
When the campus is fully covered with snow, I finally could start to write something about it. I have to admit that I love snow during the winter. It is very similar to the fact that I love maple leaf during autumn. The snow near the bus stop is really nothing special. To a certain extent, nearly everybody could observe the ordinary scene displayed in my picture but very few of them could appreciate what actually the beauty is. Just imagine that there are not anyone in this campus, except you. So who on earth you can talk with? Perhaps the only moving things are the snows. Indeed, at that moment, I tried to talk with these snows. Such as, where are you coming from? Why are you here?Do you care very much that you will be melt someday? Without any answers, the snow kept falling. I doubted that whether I had got the answer in my heart. I started to think very deeply. Where am I coming from? Why am I here? Where am I going in the future? These are seriously some fundamental philosophical questions. People might have a lot of answers but they may in fact have no answers for these questions.
When I was taking the picture, my past “glories”, “memories”, and all the other deeply troubled feelings were gone nowhere. I could feel that I gradually became a part of this campus. I went directly on the snow-covered ground, and ran through the snowy land. I could hear the snows were passing by my ears. I took off my hat and threw it very high. And I bent my knees to kiss the snow on the ground. I held up some snow in my hands and buried my face into it. My body was chilled with the coldness but I could feel the warmth of the snow.
At the end of this essay, I really wish to share with my audiences. Perhaps even some strangers may inadvertently read it. Even though we might come from different parts of the world, different religious and family background, the only thing we shared in common is our capability of discovering the beauty. It is rather true that it was just an ordinary snowy day in my campus, but our ordinary world was thoroughly changed by the snows. In our life journey, sometimes we should take a good rest and enjoy what we have seen. I still remember a story that my mom told me when i was very little. There was once a circle who missed a wedge. It wanted to be whole. It ran across the world in order to find its missing part. But it failed all the time. It started to talk with worms, sing with birds, swimming with fishes and enjoying the life in his journey of searching. But once it found the missing part. It started to run very quickly. It is true that it could roll very fast now but he could not enjoy his life journey any longer. He had no time to talk to worms, birds or fishes but rolling very blindly. At least my situation is quite similar. Most of the time, I go to school library everyday and try to study very hard for my academics but I just realize that I have missed something very important. Life is not just about studying, working, eating, etc. It is too pessimistic to say that we are born on the journey of dying. At least, we are living for a reason. Perhaps it is still very difficult for me to learn all the reasons. But one reason is that I should slow down my pace to search for beauty, instead of running through my life so fast. The studying life here in the university is certainly a gift to me. I wish all of us could treasure the very special time here. All of us are covering under the snows of “beauty”.