The lovers Layla and Majnun

Old Persian legends tell of Majnun, a crazy-in-love young man who has devoted his life to searching for his beloved Layla, from whom he has long been separated. Majnun wanders the desert, his clothes ragged, his hair matted and filthy. He becomes so exiled from the niceties of human society that his only companions are wild animals. People shun him and laugh at him.

One day a man noted for his piety comes upon Majnun sifting through dirt in the middle of the road. "You claim such devotion to your beloved," the man scoffs. "Yet you grovel for such a pearl as she in the midst of all this filth?"

"Ah," Majnun explains, "I seek Layla everywhere, so that one day I may find her somewhere."

The pearls we seek, symbols of nobility and beauty in all things, can be found anywhere--and so we must look everywhere. Searching for beauty in wounded places, we discover that even what has been used up, tossed out, and ignored is valuable if we treat it as essential to finding beauty.