If you’ve read The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, and if you loved it as much as I did, definitely check out the photographs by Steve Winter of these beautiful, solitary animals who roam the high peaks of Central Asia. I still recall the koan Matthiessen was given by his teacher when he traveled there in search of the elusive snow leopard… and his own spiritual truth: “All the peaks are covered with snow. Why is this one bare?”

I don’t know if the author ever found an answer to the puzzle (although by nature, koans don’t have an answer), but I still think about it time to time. Of course, I’ve come across a zillion unanswerable questions since then. I’m not convinced there really is an answer to ANY of them, except for the ones created by humans. But after my sister-out-law passed away last year, I realized there was no sense in trying to explain why someone so good would suffer such terrible circumstances, while so many clearly evil people continue to thrive. It’s always the personal that really brings it home.