No two snowflakes are alike

No two snowflakes are alike

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.       Galatians 3:28 (NASB)

 By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.

      As we continue to find ways to distance ourselves from one another, I’m reminded about something that I learned a long time ago and still find difficult to believe: no two snowflakes are ever just alike, yet they blanket the ground in uniformity and splendor.

This thought resonated with me like a good pot of lima beans simmering with smoke neck bones cooking very slowly, allowing each bean to be flavored.

As we all know snowflakes are extremely delicate and with the slightest change of temperature they will either melt or become crystallize into ice.

No two snowflakes are like and as many have fallen since time began, none are the same, which brings me to the gist of my concern.

As we stand at the threshold of civil unrest across this country because of the insensitivity and blatant disregard of human life by a system that is proposed to protect it, we become confused because no two struggles are just alike.

We have just celebrated ‘World AIDS Day and even with the cold blooded reality of death that is sure to come if the proper antidotal steps for remediating HIV/AIDS are not followed or adhered to by willing participants, which leads to affecting the unwilling, we all suffer because we forget that no two snowflakes are alike.

I understand it. With the struggles that we have, none are exactly the same; they’re all different. The struggles which makes us-us are just like the snowflakes that fall through the atmosphere at different times, different levels and different temperatures making each one distinctly different.

Even though we have our setbacks, defaults and intolerances when it comes to understanding and accepting the behaviors of others, we cross the line when we form personal attack missions and when things reach the boiling point, death usually occurs.

If the Lord God Almighty didn’t create any two snowflakes the same from time eternity until now, how is it that we can apply the same remedies for everybody’s social maladies?

In the educational process when there is a problem noted in the style which a child learns, a group of professionals come together and create an individualize educational plan (IEP), one which is specifically designed for that student. Why should we expect one glove to fit all when it comes to addressing societal problems as a whole?

“When we always do what we’ve always done-then we always get what we’ve always got!”

Conditions such as narrow-mindedness, racial discrimination and loathing are all individual and there are certainly many different ways to address each one.

To say that one solution would be the catch-all would be asinine.

Whatever the plight- from police brutality to HIV/AIDS in terms of discrimination they are all different and it would behoove us to understand that no two dilemmas are like. Even though there may be similarities, none are the same.

Therefore, each separate incident is uniquely overcome when we learn to love and accept each other for our differences. We can begin to understand the sole quandaries that shape us to be who we are, but until that point we would never understand nor agree that our own situations will prevent us from understanding and conquering.

We will be blinded by our circumstances. So until we can go beyond that and accept that each predicament is different (none are like; they may be similar but none of them are like) and each will have need of  it’s owns solution. Until we’re able to reach that point we would never have any true understanding or appreciation of each other, be it Ferguson, Mo. or HIV/AIDS.

The only common denominator without love for applying a “one kind for all will fix all” is the death of all.

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the [a]health of the daughter of my people [b]been restored?” Jeremiah 8:22 (NASB)

 WHEN GOD IS THE DOCTOR ALL CONDITIONS OF THE MIND, BODY AND SOUL ARE HEALED