I had the privilege of being in a local high school the other day. This happened to be at a time when classes were changing. A big high school. The kind with 2000 kids plus. I had a great observation point at a major intersection. I was reminded that just like snowflakes, no two teens are alike. Several factors affect snowflake and teenager formation. Temperature, air currents, humidity, dirt and dust particles all influence shape and size and affect crystal weight and durability. It is also true for teens. Dirt and dust particles make the snowflake heavier, and can cause cracks and breaks in the crystal and make it easier to melt. This also affects their durability. Snowflake formation is a dynamic process. A snowflake may encounter many different environmental conditions, sometimes melting it, sometimes causing growth, always changing its structure. A broken, melted teenager is a sad thing.
I like the diversity at this school. All the ethnicities and socioeconomic groups are adequately represented. There are so many cliques that it makes it hard to be a loner and everybody is so different that nobody seems to care if you are a little weird because it seem everybody is. It has the traditional cliques and more...the preps, skaters, goths, jocks, emos, freaks and the band geeks. But it goes deeper than this. Amongst these groups/cliques there are 1000s of individual snowflakes. The lowly freshmen boys for example. The lowest common denominator at a high school. Poor freshmen boys, they don't know how to dress, they are short, skinny, awkward in every way and picked on by everyone. Even each other. Yet even among this faction they are all different. We don't know what went on in their house this morning before they walked out the door. What music did they listen to? What movies, video games and culture influence who they are. Do they have their own warm room with a down comforter or do they step around their mom passed out drunk on the kitchen floor from the night before, while they gather some breakfast. Are they responsible for their siblings because one or both parents are missing or do they have an extended network of support consisting of parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents. These environmental conditions can cause growth, durability or melt making each one a different, intricate individual.
Everyone should take a few moments to observe teenagers. You would learn that we, our planet, are going to be OK. This generation will overcome, rise above and I strongly believe, kick some ass. You may see them playing hard but you probably don't realize how hard they work. How serious they take their station in life and the burdens they bare. They are proud, confident generation and figuring out that they are being handed a lot of shit and understand they will be the ones that have to fix it. I think they are up for this challenge. Even the broken, melted ones.
