Let it Snow...

It's been snowing a lot.

Everyday a lot.

While I truly do not love the snow (strange considering I'm from Utah, skiing mecca of the states) I do love watching it fall. Especially since being in college I'm learning to appreciate the simpler things in life. one of those things is sitting on the apartment couch, in the dark, watching the snow fall outside with a cup of tea in my hands. It does help to distract from the fact that I'm going to have to trudge through it at 8:30 tomorrow morning to get to class, but more than that, it's calming and a bit reassuring.

A few posts back I talked about being yourself.

Snowflakes make me think a lot about myself. Since I was little I can remember sitting at my kitchen table cutting our paper snowflakes for various girl scout functions. One day I looked up at my mom and asked her if it was really okay that all the snowflakes looked different. She nodded and told me it was fine because there are no two snowflakes that are exactly the same.

I find myself applying this to people and the world. You look out and see all of these hundreds and hundreds of people, who all seem to look and be just like you. And once you're where you're going you seem to wash in with everyone else who still looked exactly the same as you. As you sit there in that sea of people you begin to wonder if you're ever going to amount to anything of great importance.

You can say no, float the ground, and lay there quietly while you wait for the sun to come out and melt you. Or maybe you'll be in the street and only lay there until a car comes along and melts you against the asphalt. Maybe you'll spend your life stuck to the bottom of someone's shoe where you'll wait out existence until you melt on their doormat.

But, you could be the snowflake that falls on a child's tongue and makes them smile. You could be the snowflake on a lover's eye lash. You could be the first snowflake on the top of a pine tree to catch the sun's first rays and shine your own unique prism on the world.

There are people who are going to have terrible lives, who are going to believe that their not worth anyone's time. There are going to be those who are struck with tragedy and sorrows and feel like things are never going to look up. There are people who will change people forever. There are people who will shine light on the world, change it for the better, make things better. Everyone, even those who believe that there's nothing left for them, can make those differences. A simple smile, a word of thanks is all it takes to change the world for one person.

People tell me that that's too idealistic. That the world doesn't really work that way. Why can't it? Why can't we live everyday like we're trying to make a difference, even if it's only for one person?

I want to believe that people can make differences, that they always have the capacity to make a difference. Even if it's only a small smile, a laugh, a hug when someone's having a bad day, you can change that person's day for the better. So don't be afraid to!

So, when you feel like you're washed out in the sea of people you think are just like you, remember that no two people are identical.


Go out and make your difference.