Last week I had conversations with both a 4th grade class and a 5th grade class about what makes some things beautiful and some things ugly. Here is a sample of some of the things they wrote:

“Love is beautiful because most of us are here because of love — we can’t be standing here without loving each other.”

“It is beautiful when the wind and the river both move in certain ways that give me goosebumps to scare me and chills for fun.”

“Ugly is the way mud bubbles when it rains.”

“Music is beautiful because I believe it is the soundtrack to our souls.”

“Racism is ugly because it is a twisted state of being.”

“I think anger is ugly because it always ends badly.”

“I think our planet is beautiful because it’s amazing how our universe created this one planet with over 100,000 species.”

“In my vast imagination one thing is the most beautiful. Mistakes. You cannot learn without mistakes.”

“Nothing in the world is ugly — everything is unique in its own way.”