Montana

I have traveled half way around the world. I have seen things that possessed beauty beyond words. I have learned things about life that I never expected to discover.

I am looking out onto the crystal blue green waters of Flathead lake, and as they sparkle in the golden afternoon sunlight I wonder to myself, Is Montana any less beautiful than the places I just came from? Are the babbling creeks and roaring rivers set along the side of green wheat fields and fur thickets anything less than that streams inside the vine covered rain forest? Are the fresh produce stands and flower bouquets that are lined up one after another along the streets of old downtown Missoula not as great as the quiet rain forest markets of Kuranda? Is the grandeur of the snowcapped Mission Mountains any less grand than the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
There are obviously no right or wrong answers to these questions. I have learned that beauty lays within the eye of the beholder. Yes, I have heard this expression many times before, but until now I understand what it means. I understand that it is different from eye to eye and can be in many different places and many different things. I can say, "This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen" because there can be more than one "most beautiful place". I also know that beauty can also deceiving. By this I mean that while there maybe immense beauty in a place they may also be tragedy and disgust within it too. For example, the thick rainforest's of the Philippine islands while beautiful and lush hide poverty famine and disease. The word beauty is like those other hard to define words like love, hate, rich and poor. The definition will differ from person to person and thats ok! This, I find to be... well, beautiful. The fact that a word can mean so many different things to different people is what makes us, us.

So, my answer to these questions is this: No, Montana is nothing less then the white sands and jewel blue water of Whithaven beach or the rain forest jungles or the mountain lakes in NZ. It is Montana and the love and appreciation I have for it has grown while I have been away. And although there is beauty in every corner of this world, to me there will never be a beauty like that of which Montana holds.