A personal path through the
drifts
RELIGION
Rabbi David Monson
This winter we had a lot of snow.
What is snow? Snow consists of frozen water crystals that come
falling through the air. Many of you played with it, shoveled
it, packed it into little balls and have thrown them. You know
that it is good for sledding and skiing, but do you know that
every little snowflake is a work of art? If you looked at a
flake on[sic] snow under a microscope, you would see that it is
made up of triangles and hexagons with delicate, feathery
spokes.
Another interesting thing about snowflakes is
that of all the millions that fall each winter, no two have ever
been found to be the same. Everyone that has been studied,
examined and pictured has been different.
This doesn't
seem unusual when you realize that no two persons on the earth
are the same. Of all the millions of people in the world, as
far as is known, no two persons have the same fingerprints.
Why do you suppose God made each person different from
all others? It is because each one has something to give that
no one else can give. God intended that you should be
your individual self.
One winter day, when snow covered
the ground, a father went walking with his son. Seeing a large
tree some distance ahead on a little hill, he said to the boy,
"I'll race you [to] the tree, but before we start, I want
you to know that this is not a race to decide who can get to the
tree the fastest. It is a race to see who can make the
straightest path in the snow.
This appealed to the boy.
He made up his mind that he would be very careful and make a
straight line to the tree. He placed one foot in front of the
other--looking at his feet all the time he was doing it. When
he got to the tree, his father was there first. Something he
did not expect had happened.
You see, the boy's father
knew something that his son didn't know. He knew that the best way to walk in a straight line is not
by looking at one's feet, but by keeping one's eyes on the goal
toward which one walks. The father kept his eyes on the tree
and walked toward it without thinking about his feet, and he
made a straight path.
This experience in the snow gave
the boy's father an opportunity to teach his son a lesson--not
only how to make a straight path in the snow, but how to keep a
straight path in life. He told his son that in order to do
straight walking in life, it is necessary to have one's eyes
upon the goals one hopes to reach.
(text
of March 14, 1982 Toronto Sun RELIGION
column)
-RABBI MONSON'S SNOWFLAKE ANALOGY
REMINDS ME OF THE ANECDOTE REFERRED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
JOHN TURNER IN MY JANUARY 19, 1990 SUBMISSION TO HIM:
ANOTHER WONDER OF THE MOST BASIC NATURAL SCIENCE.
I SUGGEST,
IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO ALREADY, THAT YOU READ MY LAST TWO
STATEMENTS TO HIM IN THEIR ENTIRETY--AND CONSIDER CAREFULLY, IN
RELATION TO WHAT YOU READ, WHAT WERE HIS RESPONSES.
I BELIEVE
YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING ELSE ANALOGOUS AND RELEVANT ABOUT
LIFE--AND THE CONTENT AND FORMAT OF THIS AWARD-WINNING
WEBSITE--IF YOU DO SO.
TO READ THE HAND-DELIVERED MAY, 1989
STATEMENT TO MR. TURNER, BEGINNING WITH ITS LIST
OF CONTENTS, TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.
TO READ THE JANUARY, 1990 STATEMENT TO
MR. TURNER, BEGINNING WITH ITS LIST OF CONTENTS, TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP
HERE.
DON'T THINK THE WISDOM OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IS PASSÉ
YET IN WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT? LET YOUR
VOICE BE HEARD: TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP
HERE TO SIGN MY GUESTBOOK.