Snow as a Revolution Analogy
Bridgette Bartlett
Maybe I had spent too many hours reading about revolution trends and theories
And so when I finally attempted to get some sleep, I found myself gazing at
the snowstorm outside my window
My mesmeration with the movement of the falling snow meshing with
the social movement ideas swirling in my head
As I tried to comprehend the entirety of the revolution concept, I wondered
Is it possible to comprehend an entire snowstorm?
I found my attention was drawn to the light
Standing immense like a superpower
The snowflakes that passed beneath it stood out in the spotlight
The brightness of the artificial light allowing me to see that section quite clearly, while the rest of the snowstorm was hidden in the darkness of the night
Quite similar to the way the media limelight on world issues leaves much unknown to me
The snow would blow by fast on a sudden breeze, then slow to a hang-time float
Each snowflake was an individual six-sided formation, a dot in the sky
But propelled by the wind these dots turned into lines, which made it easier to detect the direction of movement
I contemplated the observation that a dot showed no movement
but a line was only an illusion.
I saw revolution trends and theories as only illusions, lines that could be seen
even if they didn't exist
There are occurrences and predictions that can be made before a revolution
Revolution is like a rare weather pattern
People can look at the highs and lows and forecast how events will play out
But even all the right approaching conditions don't guarantee a snow day
All precipitation starts out as snow
Most of it melts before it comes into view; it seeps into the ground and is eventually recycled back to the clouds till another opportunity to alter the landscape emerges
A large part of what makes a strong snowstorm is its mass, its numbers
A snowstorm is made up of millions of individual snowflakes
Each falling in its own path
Each snowflake moving seemingly chaotically in directions that are at times nearly
opposite of their neighbors
The impact of the chaotic movement of these ice crystals is most easily seen in retrospect,
after the snow has fallen, when it finally falls together
Could it be that after a snowstorm a revolution has taken place
Some sort of status quo has been changed in the covering up of the old regime
Yes, I think a change had taken place, and it represents a new season
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