On a cold snowy day, in a snow covered wood, there laid among a pile of snow a tiny snowflake. He was a young snowflake, one of the newest flakes from the last snowstorm. The little snowflake was happy to be finally out on the ground with all of the other snowflakes, instead of waiting to fall from a cumulous cloud. As he looked around, he saw many, many tall trees all covered with millions and millions of his fellow flakes. He looked at the frozen pond which was also covered with snowflakes. In the distance all he could see were more trees covered with snowflakes. Suddenly, the little snowflake felt overwhelmed.
“There are so many of us!” he exclaimed. He saw the snowflakes lying beneath him which were from a previous snowstorm. They were older and wiser than he was. Surrounding him were very beautifully patterned snowflakes. Some of them looked like the jewels one would find around a woman’s neck. The snowflake now looked at himself and thought, I am young and naïve, and my pattern is dull compared to all of these other snowflakes. I am not as special as they are.
He again perused the landscape surrounding him. The millions of snowflakes sparkled and glittered as rays of sunlight hit them through the gray clouds.
“There are so many,” he said to himself again. “Why, I am not so important, I am just a part of the blanket of snow that covers the dead earth in the winter.”
The little snowflake started to cry as he thought of how lonely and insignificant he was.
“Why can’t I be special too?” he cried aloud.
Just then, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds once more. A ray of sunlight hit the little snowflake, causing him to glitter and shine. The snowflake squinted from the light.
“Why is it that one of my specially and wonderfully made snowflakes feels insignificant?” said a deep voice from the beam of light.
“Because I’m not pretty like the others. I’m young and inexperienced. I am only part of a handful of snow.”
The little snowflake looked downcast.
“Only a handful of snow, you say?” The voice was still for a time, and then the little snowflake saw a large hand emerge from the clouds. The hand gently scooped up a handful of snowflakes and held it close to the little snowflake.
“What do you see?” asked the deep voice.
“A handful of snow,” answered the tiny snowflake.
“Look closer.”
The little snowflake looked hard at the pile of white, glistening snow. He began to see shapes—diamonds, rectangles, circles. Then he saw colors—blue, pink, silver, gold, amber, maroon. The little snowflake’s eyes widened. He saw a snowflake on top of the pile with a diamond pattern around her face. She glittered blue and silver in the sunlight. Another snowflake had a spider-web shaped pattern covering his body. He was shining yellow and amber in the sun. There were thousands more in the large hand, each with different patterns and colors, as well as sizes and shapes. Not one of them looked exactly the same.
“I see colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes! All of them are different, but beautiful.” The little snowflake smiled as he spoke.
“That’s right. They are all unique—and they are all beautiful. Just like you, Little Snowflake.”
The snowflake blushed. As he did, he glistened red and gold in the sun beam. He saw his unique pattern that covered his body. The little snowflake again squinted into the sunlight. The deep voice spoke again.
“I created you to be as you are. I created you to be different from the others to show how special you are to me. And even though there are millions of other snowflakes, there is not one like you.”
