Early one summer morning, while hiking in the mountains of central Idaho, I went through a small valley with thousands upon thousands of Sego Lilies.  Nearly all of them were white, but there were the occasional (and rare) examples of a lavender variety.  Upon finding the first lavender lily, my eyes darted back and forth, sweeping the scene in front of me to locate more of these lavender flowers; I spotted only a few.  Of these few, I found only one right next to a white flower, and decided to capture this juxtaposition.

 

It has been something of a theme in my life to see (and look for) contrasting pairings — odd couples.  Upon finding such a pairing, I find myself mentally going through the preparatory stages of creating a compare-and-contrast essay; identifying features they have in common, and variations in the theme.  Seeing the two contrasting specimens next to each other helps me to see each individual a little better, and understand and appreciate its unique qualities.

 

Of such contrasting pairings, I used to focus all of my attention on just one (a favorite) and then ignore the other.  In retrospect, I missed out on a lot of understanding and appreciating.  Having seen and experienced from different perspectives has helped me to recognize some of the beauties that are present in diversity.  I often still have my favorites, but now, when I do, I have a better understanding of why.  In this case, I don’t (yet) have a favorite color for Sego Lilies.