I Am A Snowflake

I am a SNOWFLAKE.

I’ve seen this particular term thrown out by the alt-Right in particular, as yet another term to denigrate those who don’t, in fact, buy into their vision of reality. However, I’m going to claim this particular term for my own.

Why?

1. Snowflakes are complex, multifaceted and uniquely individualistic.
2. By themselves, snowflakes are ephemeral, but collectively, they can stop bulldozers and pickup trucks, can, in their quiet way, stop aggression in its track, and create passive resistance that cannot be overcome.
3. Snowflakes are fun. You can make snowballs and show angels from them, and they bring out the sense of wonder in you.
4. Snowflakes are important for regulating temperature, for bringing moisture to watersheds. They represent balance in the world, occurring most frequently at the boundaries of warm and cold airs, and are a reminder (and a warning) of what is happening in our climate.
5. Snowflakes collectively can change landscapes, level mountains, create rivers. They don’t necessarily move fast, but they are the most potent, most inexorable force on earth.
6. Snow, ultimately, is peaceful. It is associated with the hearth, baking, the smell of fir and pine, needle and thread, candles in the night. When it is snowing, it is a time for reflection, for planning, for loving your children and cuddling with your lover.
7. Snow is yin, the feminine principle. It shows strength in defense, symbolizes passive resistance. It is significant that the most egalitarian cultures in the world are ones where snow is common.
8. Snow can be used to create, to save, to preserve.
9. All too often, in the culture wars, terms become perjoratives. Snowflake is used to imply something fragile, and in negative terms, feminine and overly-sensitive, usually as a threat to the speaker’s own overly developed sense of being crude, offensive, foul smelling and grossly masculine. It means that you appreciate beauty for its own sake, and not for how much it can go for in a market or whether it is an objectification of people as caricatures or sexual objects.
10. If this is what is meant to be a snowflake, then I think it is a name, a symbol, that should be worn proudly. It is a symbol of intelligence and sophistication, of comfort with one own’s sexuality and those of others. It implies the willingness to work with one another, yet retain my individuality and uniqueness, contributing what I do best while making my mark on history. Snowflakes are good things to be.

Yes, I am a snowflake.