"beautiful ordinary"

gerhard richter was said to paint images without glory, to render the beautiful ordinary. i have thought often about the possibility of "rendering the beautiful ordinary," and have wondered if such a feat was possible. i have been honored to be in the company of many individuals that i would consider truly beautiful, and often, it has been in their company that i have doubted the possibility of rendering a person so stunning as simply "ordinary". 

but then, it has also occurred to me, that part of why i have found these people, these individuals that i admire, so stunning is not because of what is extraordinary about them (of which the number is countless), but is because of their genuine humanity. it seems that few people are willing to genuinely embrace their humanity along with the humanity of others. honoring that aspect of ourselves i feel requires intense humility and compassion.  these individuals that i have had the honor to know, have embraced themselves honestly, and embraced those around them with a similar compassion. how beautiful it is to recognize the humanity in ourselves and in others, and to do so with the intention of loving kindness!

in this regard then, is "beauty" simply synonymous with acknowledging that which is "ordinary?" did richter have it backwards, and is understanding how "ordinary" each of us is inseparable from finding that which is also beautiful in us? 

i remember sitting one evening in the company of one of these beautiful people, and finding myself awestruck by his character; how impressed i was by the humanity of this individual! i remember him repeating again and again that there was nothing special about him, and that he was simply "ordinary". i was dumbfounded, and struggled to find what, if anything, was ordinary about him. what i have realized since that time, is that what i loved about him was his ordinary humanity, and it was because of  that humanity that everything else was rendered beautiful.  

i have spent much time looking at the reflections cast by one of richter's grey paintings currently displayed at the st. louis art museum. it seems to me that the muted reflections invoke one to look beyond the superficial flaws and colors of oneself, and to simply look at ourselves in conjunction with the reflections of the light being cast upon the glass. in effect, we are invited to look beyond the superficial and observe an aspect of our simple, ordinary, humanity. perhaps, only when we find, and embrace that which is ordinary and human in ourselves and others, can we begin to see that which is also beautiful. and so perhaps, perhaps, richter was not trying to render the "beautiful" as "ordinary," but rather, he was trying render the "beautiful ordinary."