'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' - Till a few years back, whenever I was thinking about this phrase, only one thought used to come to my mind. The era in which it was coined must have been full of people having the perception that allowed them to see beauty in everything. Or, to say the least, the person who coined it and the people who adhered to it had that viewpoint; the people of that era surely used to admire dogmas, opinions and accomplishments of other people. Or, if not praising someone, then at least they were conscious of that person's point of view and knew how to respect it. However, in a progressive world which we are living in today, not sure whether this phrase is losing its essence, but there is one thing that is for sure. It's going awry. A sharp deviance we can see now in the perception of the people of this very world. Countless people now enjoy criticizing the rest of the world for being who they are or what they have done. In the modern-day terminology, we call these people 'critics'. But, are these critics against one's achievements and victories? Or, are they jealous of what one possesses? And if not, then are they obliged to their innate and incorrigible nature of condemning others. We may not be sure of what is the case with these critics all the time, but there is one thing that is for sure. Their criticisms always hover inside one's mind and always provoke one to fight to corroborate how apt and justified one's achievements and means were or are. But, ultimately it's up to the recipient how to take condemnations. One can either surrender as easy as or fight as hard as one can. But if one wishes to go for the latter option, take my word, such criticisms will always play pivotal role in shaping one's ability to retaliate against them vehemently. They will always help one to nurture the kind of confidence one needs to have in order to not get flustered by their ambush.

                   As they say, everyone in his or her life has to go through the phase of criticism. For the matter of fact, I too had experienced it. And the way things are shaping around me as of now, it seems as if not even the almighty is sure when I will be the next recipient of any such criticism again.Wait; it might be just around the corner, stalking me and getting agitated to shatter my confidence and break me apart! But you know what, now I have started taking pride in any criticism that comes at me. I think of it now as a blessing in disguise - that at least someone got my attention, though not the way I intended at first, but still... For me, now what matters is - Out of all those tens of thousands of people, this critic has chosen me to admonish and test my skills of shielding my self-righteousness against his blatant criticisms. This is something you think I should take pride in it, right? You bet I do then. Because opportunity like this is not presented to everyone and not everyone can cash in on it. It benefits only a person who desires to face challenges and always seeks to see the bigger picture. And at present I certainly see myself adorned with these qualities, courtesy of a plethora of vituperation I have already been through and fruitful results each of them blessed me with. Now, it doesn't matter whether criticisms come in abundance or with all guns blazing; what matters is - a priceless gift bestowed upon me by them in the form of a revamped attitude that I was longing for ages.

               That said, please let me clear the air again. I don't like to brag about my triumph and glories. And I don't despise critics too. In fact, I owe them a lot!  They are the ones because of whom I am here today, standing in front of you with such an audacity and writing down this article with such an aplomb. And if I, a then diffident and aloof guy, can be benefited by them, then why can't you? But, like I said earlier, it's all about how you take criticisms. And if you still have any second thought that is making your mind to vacillate between two choices - whether to face cannons of criticisms from now on or not, then God bless you!

             Mind you, the idiom that I mentioned earlier never lost its soul! It's still there. It's still about our perception. It's still about who we are and what good we think of everyone else. And to tell you the fact that - this very phrase will never lose its essence as long as people like us who never get bog down by any criticisms are living here on this very green earth and as long as people like us who are still continuing to admire the beauty poured by these very condemnations. Those are the people whom I call - 'True beauty beholders'.

      
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