Every week, I drive by this alley with the same housedresses drying on the line. Bright florals gracing an otherwise run-down neighborhood. A dark area of town, to be honest.

In fact, this neighborhood is consistently the site of burning tires and violence. A volatile little pocket that gets covered in graffiti night after night. We don’t go down there after sunset, it goes without saying.

So it was especially stunning to see these festive flags flapping in the breeze when I drove by the other day. Right next to scorched concrete. Right next to angry graffiti. Pretty pinks. Bright turquoise. Greens. Browns like rich earth. Absolute poetry. I just had to stop and get a record of the goodness.

I made the picture my new cover photo on my personal FB page, and promptly became obsessed with it.

Here’s why . . . if you’ll recall from the Introduction of Found Art, I wrote about the beginnings of the genre found art, credited to a man in New York in 1917. He purchased a urinal from a hardware store and turned it onto its side and named it “Fountain.” So began found art or using found objects as art.

Could this be more perfect?

I know you’ve heard me say this one hundred thousand times, but I’m going to say it again. Because I need to hear it today. Because you might need to hear it today, too.

Sometimes life is a urinal. And, miraculously, in time, we see that a fountain existed in that urinal—against all odds.

Sometimes life is a terrorized alley of burning tires and graffiti and fear. And then we see—against all odds—a row of humble housedresses rebelliously waving in the face of the darkness. And we laugh. Because we know that Beauty is a fighter, a scrappy gal who can’t be run out of town by bullies or hooligans.

So fight for the Beauty today. Fight to see it. Fight to recognize it. Fight to believe it’s just around the next corner. Just down that dark alley. And if you see it–even just the faintest glimpse–get a record of the goodness. Put it somewhere to remind you.

And then, when your hope is waning, you can pull up the picture of the housedresses (or whatever your picture is) and remember that sometimes Beauty’s a butt-kicker, and she’s at her best when everything else is at its worst.