Years ago I was sent for two weeks of training in Kansas. It was pretty intense training; the "eight week course crammed into two weeks" variety. Fourteen hours a day for two straight weeks we would study, and eventually leave with our certification. Even through the Memorial Day holiday.

After seven days of class work our instructor realized we needed a break, so he called class after six hours and told us to take the rest of the day off. It was the day after Memorial Day, incredibly warm for that time of year. It was close to 70 degrees so I decided to walk to a Friday's restaurant that was about a mile away. 

As I walked up the sidewalk there was a busy roadway to my left, and a graveyard to my right. Over many of the graves were flags and a lot of flower arrangements, though most of them had been blown down by a storm the night before.

Between the sidewalk and the road was a drainage ditch, and in the ditch were literally tens of thousands of flower petals. Every color and flower type you can imagine was in the mix; an incredible kaleidoscope of hues and shapes. It was an awesome site; even though I had a camera available I didn't take a picture. I knew there was no way a photograph, no matter how crisp, could do the scene justice. 

In the midst of this chaos I had found something of astonishing beauty. As I stood there, inspired by the scene, two young women walked by me. Hearing snippets of their conversation was unavoidable; they were complaining about the storm, and how it ruined all the pretty flowers. They continued to walk by as I stared after them, dumbfounded. It took me a few minutes before I realized they were looking at the graveyard, and missing the scene a scant few feet from them.

Somehow  I knew that pointing this out to them wouldn't make them see the image I was able to see. They were determined to complain, and nothing would sway them.

Three people in the same place, at the same time. Two would tell a tale of awful devastation, ugliness and a general feeling of unease. One would describe a scene of incredible beauty found in a completely unexpected place.

It's all in your point of view.