I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories, fairytale stories. The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with — nothing brings it all to life like a fairytale storybook you believed in.
And so, to re-live my childhood moment, to escape from the pain in an existence mundane, I opened the book once again and somehow, this time the feeling is entirely conflicting with what used to be just a storybook. It's like telling me a story in a whole different perspective.
Beauty and the Beast symbolizes "Love and Redemption". The hero of this story, Beast was originally born as a prince. But an evil witch cursed him into a beast because he was selfish, arrogant and egotistical, blinded by the good life he once had. The turning point in this story is when the Beast is awakened from the deep sleep of despair and turns to the state of a prince in the twinkling of an eye.
It is Beauty who transformed the Beast to a “New Being” in the presence of her love. In others words, the love of Beauty made the animal Beast evolve into a real human being. Love is the divine gift from God that leads human beings to the living existence from solitary existence. Love is the power of salvation that awakes human life from eternal death.
But how does this story apply to us in life? Or rather, how has this story changed my perspective, my stubbornness in certain aspects of my life?
Before I continue, let me quote Drew Barrymore. She said, "Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful, graceful butterflies that everyone loves."
We all had a past, ugly or not, just like Beast. Everyone has a secrets they don't want to share. We made a lot mistakes along the way, hurt people we loved. But what is important is, we also have a future. For this I would like to quote Oscar Wilde, "every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." What's most important is learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us
In the story, Beast conceals himself inside his castle, ashamed of his new appearance. Just like many of us, we are accustomed to not moving, to move was to feel pain. By isolating ourselves, we could avoid confrontation, conflict and hostilities. Sleeping was usually the escape. But do you know, freedom is found not by sleeping or running away, but by choosing to be awake and staying here long enough for the magic doors to open.
In such adversity, Beauty found Beast. He comes to appreciate and love Beauty through the days they lived together in the castle. The kindness and sincerity that Beauty showed Beast eventually opens the door for him to fall in love. I once loved a guy, in fact I still do, very much. During his dark, lonely period, I showed him love. He was afraid to admit his love initially, probably afraid of getting hurt. He was skeptical of my love to him but with kindness and sincerity, he admitted that he was in love with me. Our feeling was true, it was mutual.
And then, there is this part in the story where Beauty asked if she could leave Beast to tend to her sick father. Placing his happiness before her own, Beast releases her, not knowing if Beauty will ever return to his arms. Such situation happens to many of us. They say, "if you love someone, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were..."
This quote is speaking of the most fundamental rule of the universe. Love isn’t owned and cannot be taken. It can only be given. This is probably the scariest of all the quotes, from a practical standpoint. Who wants to take a chance at losing someone they love? But, as the quote says, if they don’t come back, it wasn’t meant to be. So by not taking that leap of faith and turning them lose, you may end up pouring a lot of time and effort into a relationship that is destined to fail. And that hurts a lot more.
And the best part of this meaningful story is that, Beauty eventually returns to Beast because she finally understand her true feeling. She loves Beast. You see, when she was confined in the castle, she didn't want to marry Beast despite his grand proposal. But when Beast set her free, she returned and is clear that Beast is the only one that she ever wants to be with.
What a fascinating story, full of meanings and life lessons that we can relate to, eh? And the bonus is, the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack can also move you to tears if you can relate to it. To me, it was this line that struck me because... it is something that I can relate to :) Enjoy!
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
