The Other Side of the Snowflake

Have you ever stood back and watched snow fall? Now I'm not talking about just watching it fall because everyone is watching it fall this winter season. I'm talking about REALLY watching it fall. Within snow there is a certain beauty and diversity that if your not looking close enough or not focused on seeing what's around you, many don't realize it and this simple beauty goes away.

You could apply this to the United States on various grounds, when you look at a snowflake nothing is the same about it, sure the structure of frozen water molecules cluster forming this time while fluff is the same but the size, shape and layers are different for each and every flake. This makes a beautiful diversity within a small contained area.

Now before I go all 'Colors of the Wind' or open up with a Disney sing-a-long (I tend to break into those quite frequently for those who know me.) There is a reason behind this. Have we as Americans looked around us to see our diversity or are we so closed that we missed the diversity and all we see now in just a lump of snow on the ground?

It's a problem with this society and many of us within the Islamic community feel it full force. Instead of seeing the whole picture of diversity they see us as a problem and virus that needs to be melted off of the big snowman.  Personally I sometimes wonder what this country would have been like if 9/11 didn't happen, in fact there isn't a day that goes by that I wish it wouldn't have happened. Before that Islam was not well known here there wasn't a stereotype or stigma of fear. We never had to defend ourselves for something we did not do and we didn't have to fear in most cases. Sure there were issues concerning women and the 'who are these people' that anywhere you go you encounter. But you were not singled out as a terrorist, you didn't have the FBI or TSA stereotyping you because of your beliefs and flying the friendly skies was so much easier then this hysteria that we have now to just get from point A to point B.

Seriously, would we be dancing in wheat fields holding hands with the beacon of light still flowing over the world asking for people to come try this country out like it's a new warm and fussy jacket? Probably not but I do feel that it would have been much better then the police state we are becoming. As a hijab (headscarf) wearing woman within this religion there is a certain level of fear that each one of us possess. And many can deny it when they go out but it's always there. For me personally in the 7 years I have been a Muslim I was never afraid for myself or for anything until my daughter was born this year. Realization hit me like a brick over my head when I was at the Mall trying to leave and a woman out of no where just felt it was her time to be a bully and started screaming at me that my child was an abomination to everything holy and I was a terrorist.

Normally for me I'm like...Really? And you can tell this just because I wear a scarf on my head? Or something else snarky to punch back at them for their stupidity. But things had changed and with her attitude and her screaming at me in front of everyone at the food court suddenly caused me to do something I hadn't felt in a long time - FEAR, I was scared for my tiny daughter who was quietly and mercifully sleeping through this whole episode in our baby stroller. The only thing that I could do was walk away as she followed me shaking her fists in the air, still screaming I might add before I finally told her I was about to call the police if she didn't back down and go away.

That was just a recent episode there have been countless others (I could almost write a book about everything to tell you the truth) It just takes me back to an article in the New York Times called, "Will we ever belong?" the title itself is so moving and heartbreaking especially since it talks about Americans who religiously follow Islam not feeling like they belong in this country because of the intolerance that is building. Not everyone is a terrorist, in fact it's less then 1% in this religion that do believe in terrorism so that leaves 99.98% of 1.5+ BILLION Muslims who don't believe in it. But it's not just our religion, the violence and fatality rates in this country goes FAR beyond what a religion does, so do people stand on the street and just start yelling at other people for this? And yet in a country that prides itself on it's freedoms, liberties and rights to practice their religion here, why the need to even think of questioning why you wouldn't belong in your own country? The reality is even I as a born citizen of this country have had to ask myself this in the recent year.

So the point being is, what if we saw each other like a snowflake? Each one of us personally believes we have a path to follow or a goal we must obtain before our lives are through. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, and even Atheist, no matter what your belief is we all have that goal.  With so many to choose from I can tell you one of the most important and it follows with just about every religion is a goal that needs to better understand our neighbor and see the diversity around us to better live with each other. We're not the only ones as many want to believe on this planet, there are billions more like us just in different shapes, colors, sizes and opinions.

But sometimes we have to see our life as a snow flake, so different from the other snowflakes around us but yet with that same goal as we dance through the air. To find a home and in a sense meet up with those around us in a beautiful harmony.