Take pure carbon: it can be the soot on the end of a candle wick, or the diamond in someone’s ear. Or, in this case, take pure silica (SiO2); it can be sand, or the water-clear crystal of a Herkimer diamond.
These beautiful crystals are found in the central New York region around Herkimer, and grow pre-faceted because of the crystal structure of quartz. I’ve had the one in the photo since I was a little girl living in Cooperstown, not far from there. It’s always amazed me that the same molecule can form such different-looking things. In this I see a useful analogy for people. We may look different — plain and scratchy as sand, or naturally elegant as quartz — but inside we’re all the same. And never forget that the plain, scratchy sand is just as “pure” as the glimmering crystal. No matter who we are, we’re all of us pure.
Posted in response to the WordPress photo challenge: Pure
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