Michelangelo once said, "A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it." He took this to heart in his sculpture, chiseling each piece of marble away to reveal the beauty of a form underneath. This image of an "unfinished slave" shows his artistic process...

He was also a bit brazen about his art, saying, "Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop." Right, Michelangelo, that is all you have to do! I mean, why didn't I think of this before? It is so simple, thank you for for the illumination. I should go buy a hammer and chisel and try my hand at making slaves...


No, but to Michelangelo it was easy, for his brain was naturally wired to look for the beauty in everything and be able to visualize a human form materializing from a block of stone.


Michelangelo makes me think of how much I fail to hear and see in a day. How many opportunities do I miss by not opening up my eyes, my mind? What if under someone's stony cold demeanor a beautiful soul is lurking? Yes, it takes effort to get to the bottom of things. It takes determination to invest yourself in something without an ascertainable future. For all you know, underneath the stone... could be just more stone. Perhaps you will end up with a cracked, less than ideal product. But it is worth uncovering every bit of potential beauty lurking around you. You may find a best friend, a new interest, an idea, a soul-mate. Follow Michelangelo's example and do not cease to dig beneath the surface until you have cracked away that last bit obscuring the truth from your view.