A second look at snow

Wilson Bentley

Today, I would like to talk about snow. I'd like to offer a second look at the "white stuff" that blanketed the East Coast last weekend and is the norm for people in certain parts of the planet. While driving, shoveling, losing power and avalanches can be some downsides to snow, we have to admit that we all kind of love it. Snow is fun: snowmen, snow angels, sled riding, snowmobiling, snowball fights, skiing, snow forts and more. Students, teachers and most people in the work force all wish for snow days - they provide us with the opportunity to take a break. One teacher created a parody of Adele's Hello around wanting a snow day that has gone viral. If you haven't seen her video, you can click here. 

I love to watch the snow fall - it's beautiful and peaceful. It's also pretty easy to take snow for granted. When you look out at a dusting of snow, or even 4 feet of snow, we tend take it as a whole. We're not really thinking about the fact that the snow is comprised of individual flakes - each unique and distinct in its own right. I was reminded of this when I was outside with my nephew trying to catch snowflakes in our mouths and I noticed one on the sleeve of his coat - it was stunning.

I started to research snowflake photos and came across Wilson Bentley. He took over 5,000 photos of snowflakes starting in the late 1800's. National Geographic has an article about him and a gallery of some of his amazing photos (click here). There is also a website for his work, set up and maintained by the Jericho Historical Society in Vermont (click here). Bentley stated that, "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." Wow, a fleeting beauty that most of the time we have no clue about.

I started to really think about snow and how each snowflake is unique and how it contributes to the whole. How, when it is time, it transforms back into water. How it comes for a short while and then is replaced by new flakes. Sounds a bit like the human race. We all come in and are unique - no two of us are exactly the same. When you're taking into account eternity, we're here for a very short period of time before we transform back into our original essence. If we would just look a little closer at each other (instead of clumping people into some group), we would see the unique design and beauty of each person. We all have a purpose of why we're here.

I encourage you to check out the links for Wilson Bentley. I also suggest you check out the beautiful snowflake photos by Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov. He has taken some amazing shots as seen in his post. Be sure to scroll down his post to the rainbow snowflakes - they are Ah-mazing.  The next time you encounter snow, take a moment to take a closer look and appreciate just how beautiful Nature is - how beautiful we all are.

Love, Adrienne :)