A Storm is Made of Snowflakes

Some may call me a snowflake because I am a young liberal voter who was devastated by the outcome of this past presidential election. They may think me soft or weak because I care about people other than myself, people that don't look like me, people who are different from me. But I don't think that empathy is a weakness. If someone wants to call me a 'special snowflake' because of my age and political views, well, so be it. I'll be a snowflake. I'll be a cold, complex creation made of ice that, when surrounded by other 'special snowflakes', can change the flow of life and alter landscapes.

On my own, of course I can't have the same impact as a collection of other young liberal minded activists. But I am not alone. There are millions of Americans that want to continue to see the change we have created under the Obama administration thrive and progress our country into such greatness that I can say that I truly am a proud American citizen. However, only writing Facebook posts, commenting on the posts of others, and even writing blog posts like this isn't going to do enough. We need to band together across the nation, not just in supporting each other and agreeing with each other online, and make our voices heard.

Every 'special snowflake' must collect and gather and storm the nation with protests, texts, pieces of art, songs, plays, speeches, everything we can to make a difference. We must write to our state legislature and our Congress. Staying quiet is not an option. Just being sad about where our country is headed politically is not an option. Doing nothing will just feed into the stereotype of the lazy young liberal voter. We had our chance to make our voices heard, and a lot of us just didn't show up. That needs to be fixed, and to fix that we all need to do just as Obama recently said in his Farewell Address: lace up our shoes, get off our social media accounts, and talk to people. Talk to people you agree with to make a movement, and then talk to people you disagree with so that you can hear their opinions and then have them hear yours. Our President Elect and all of his staff do not listen to or try to understand the opinions of others, so that is to be our job.

The problem is not just in Donald Trump, who I shall never refer to as Mr. President or President Trump because I think that one needs to act like an adult with some integrity and be presidential to deserve that title, but in all of his supporters and all of the men in office who feel that their job is to value themselves above all others. The first thing we need to do is to write to these people. Write until your hand, or hands if you're typing, are so cramped that you literally cannot write anymore. Join advocacy groups, volunteer for non-profits who are trying to make a difference, get signatures and try to get bills into consideration. Racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and all other forms of small-mindedness cannot be allowed to thrive in this country.

It is up to us 'special snowflakes' to storm the nation and incite change. We cannot be afraid of conservative lash back, we need to welcome it so we can use their fear of change to show just how strong we are. I want America to be great, I want to say that I'm thoroughly proud of my nation, but there is a vile, insidious plague of bigotry afflicting the country with fever dreams of the al-right. It is time to fire up, get ready to go, and yell until it is impossible to ignore us.