Jean Shinoda Bolen, An Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women and Save the World[1]. This book is difficult and painful to read, as it exposes many truths about the political and economic reality for many people throughout the world and directly links this strife to choices based on greed and fear that have been made up until now. That said, as a true Complete Woman, Bolen includes one of the most empowering and inspirational poems of our time; a piece that speaks to the power of one and reminds us that individuals can make a difference.

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a sparrow asked a wild dove.

 “Nothing more than nothing,” the dove answered.

 “In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the sparrow said. “I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all. 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 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch–nothing more than nothing — as you say — the branch broke off.”

 Having said that, the sparrow flew away

 The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on peace, thought about the story for a while. Finally, she said to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come to the world.”

 Jean Shinoda Bolen demonstrates the qualities of a leader; she believes that her reader is one, too. The true leader is aware of the work that needs to be done, why it must be done and what will happen if it remains undone. A leader also knows that both the work, and the solution are peaceful, and that all of us hold within ourselves the power to achieve the results that will benefit us, each other, the planet, and all living things.

[1] Shinola Bolen, Jean. An Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women and Save the World. Conari Press, 2005.

This post is derived from The Complete Woman’s Manifesto