Dear Editor,

Nature’s beauty surrounds us all, but rarely do we see it, alltoo busy to notice it. Rushing back and forth, here and there, wefail to see the patterns in the clouds or the colors in the sky atsunset. We do not see the birds that fly overhead, the butterfliesthat fly around us or even the squirrels that play on the ground infront of us; too busy to see the beauty all around. However, wenotice the crumpled paper on the grass in a park, the broken limbof a tree, or a dead animal beside the road.

When we look around at one another, we notice things like dirton a pair of pants, a stain on a shirt, and a scar from an injurylong ago or just wind blown hair. We see these things, the negativeand ugly, without noticing the beauty of a smile, the sparkle in aneye or the sincerity of a heart. We have become a people who searchfor the negative, ignore the positive and long for a perfectionthat does not exist.

We pray for peace between countries and cultures while holdinghate and anger for our own brothers, sisters and neighbors. Tochange the world, one must first change his or her self. To moveaway from negativity means focusing on the positive. To find peaceis to lose hate and apathy.

Challenge yourself to change.

Joe Segura,

Monticello