Snowflakes

               “You are not unique and beautiful snowflakes”. This statement from the movie Fight Club is to a great extant true. Everyone is unique. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone is special. But when everyone is special, is anyone special?

               One of the monks here was pulled aside by a tourist and asked “In all reality brother, what difference do you make?” The monk did not give an answer. Instead he replied with the same question: “What difference do YOU make?” Although this at first struck me as a very rude dialogue, I think it is also quite profound.

               Growing up, I expected to change the world. I neither expected nor desired power, fame, or influence per se, but I did expect to make a great difference. I then began to realize that one can work as a homemaker, an accountant, or an ordained religious for 30 years and have very little to show for it. True, you may have raised law abiding citizens, earned your firm some money, or ministered to those in need, but at any time along the way, you could have been replaced by some other snowflake. You could die tomorrow and business would continue as usual.

               The importance of our lives does not come from what we do, but how we do it. Mother Teresa of Calcutta reminds us that “we can do no great things; only small things with great love”. Our uniqueness and beauty comes from the ordinary, mundane, everyday actions that are done out of love. The occupations of homemaker, accountant, or monk, are merely the backdrop of our lives.  The real beauty in our lives is derived from the loving relationships we that no one will remember in 100 years.

                So today, take a little extra time and effort and spend a few moments for the sake of someone else.