*The Weight Of A Snowflake*

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coal mouse asked a wild dove. "Nothing more than nothing" responded the dove.

"In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story," the coal mouse said. "I sat on the branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow, not heavily, not in a raging blizzard.....no.........just like in a dream, without any violence. Since I didn't have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch weighing nothing more than nothing, as you say - the branch broke off."

Having said that, the coal mouse ran away. The dove, since Noah's time was an authority on the matter, thought about the story for awhile and finally said to herself --- "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come about in the world".

I was thinking about this story as I considered the fact that lately, all we hear is bad news. Isn't it time for peace and good news in the world? It's much too easy for us to bury our heads in the sand and want to stay away from the matters of the world, especially at the present time.
The US has been in Iraq for much too long, too many lives have been lost, and a terribly great price has been paid. Sadly, we are still recovering from the horrible damage caused by several hurricanes in the Gulf coast last year. The price of gas is at an alltime high and expected to go higher, probably due to so many factors, supply, demand, and most likely, quite a bit of price gouging. We have a president whose popularity is at an alltime low, and sinking further each day. What a gloomy picture of the world we all say................

We are in a time to change the atmosphere in which we live, either by perception, acts or deeds. One cannot live on bad news forever. The mind, body and the soul need a change, in spite of all of the black clouds that hover. We need to stay positive, believe that there is a brightness and light, even in the mist of gloom. Ultimately, life, and what it is really all about, may be based more on our attitudes towards ourselves and our fellow human beings more than anything else.