2005 - 7th Grade 2nd Place:

Nathan Lane, Florida

Truth or Beauty?

Truth is more important than beauty, but cannot exist without it. Truth is doing what is right, even though the perception of right may vary in the change of society. It is the idea of overall human sentiment, permanent although culture is ever changing. Truth is the lantern that guides a person through life, and if that lantern is forsaken, then the person will stray from the life of truth into the land of darkness. Truth is abundant when childhood is still present, the child's innocence still maintained. It is when the person grows up and is gradually exposed to the world of people and feelings that they are changed internally, and walk along the edge of the path of truth, soon to stray or soon to balance. It is those that stay on path that find themselves most successful.

Beauty is the subtle asset to everything in life, the thing that is only in the eye of the beholder. Because every person has their own perception of beauty, then the world is truly full of the beauty perceived by humankind. Beauty is the love of people, the love of the beauty that they express when they perceive their own existence. By seeing the beauty expressed by someone, people become even more beautiful themselves, able to identify the world around them. If everyone has beauty that emanates because of their course through life, then everything is beautiful, the whole world a piece of art with subtle assets that only those with the sharpest of eyes can see the most.

Even though beauty may be important, the persistence to find beauty may cause people to become blind to the path of truth. Truth is the basis of life, and beauty is the enjoyments of it. You cannot enjoy life and stray far off the path of truth, for if you do, you will fall. Truth is a very hard path to follow, for it may not be enjoyable, and the truest of things may seem wrong. With beauty to reward truth, then life is a flower waiting to be enjoyed. Truth is the spine of life, and therefore more important, but beauty is the reason that truth can be so enjoyable. At the same time, life is not that easy, and even though it may seem easy to follow truth and accept beauty at the same time, it is impossible to lead a perfect life. Truth is the moral code of life and more important, but cannot exist without beauty, the reason to enjoy life.

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