The Rare, Tiny Flower

The Rare, Tiny Flower illustrates a deeply touching and thoughtful poem by Kitty O’Meara that, in the form of a parable, celebrates difference, tolerance, and unity. The poem features a mysterious flower that looks different to each viewer, which leads to strife as everyone insists that their vision is “right.” Leaders and even botanists are unable to agree on the nature of the flower—it takes a young girl to point out that the flower is, in fact, quite multidimensional. Remarkably, she has the ability to be heard by the squabbling masses, who then see beyond their fighting and commit to connecting with one another. O’Meara’s thoughtful poem begins with these words: Once, in a forest, a bird dropped a seed. It wasn’t a sapling, it wasn’t a weed, but a rare, tiny flower that found light and grew. To some it looked red, to some it looked blue.