I've had a few people ask what the logo is that I've begun to use as my avatar (and as my Ex Libris plate, although that one is in black and white). It's what I have declared as the Family Crest of my branch of House Harris, one which takes into consideration that "Ubique, Patriam Reminisci (1)" is a taller order in a household where "Patriam" has been changes to "Patrias (2)."
The shield at the center is an altered House Harris Coat of Arms.
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The blue and gold color scheme is the traditional heraldic colors of House Harris, and the hedgehogs (an animal native to House Harris's native Scotland) represents both fidelity (don't ask me how) and self-defense. A small, herbivorous creature covered in spikes, it is a symbol of an unaggressive underdog who is dangerous only to those who try to attack it. The color scheme also dovetails nicely with the first alteration one notices.
One of the the three hedgehogs (bottom center) has been replaced with the Ukrainian Crest.
This represents my fiancee's homeland, a country which, out of all the places in the world where I could have gone, I selected as the one where I would build my life; a country which I had the pleasure of living in for a single golden year before the Horde of Muscovy shattered that life in a Special Genocide Operation to De-Civilize and De-Humanify it; a country I had the distinct honor of fighting for, albeit briefly; a country which, as they defend themselves (and the entire civilized world) from Muscovite barbarism, fulfills that "hedgehog" symbolism nicely.
всюди, пам'ятай свою батьківщину!
(vsyudy, pam'yatay svoyu batʹkivshchynu!)
Flanking the shield are two flags. One is the state flag of my homeland; Texas.
It's a saying so common in Texas that it's become a cliche, "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could." It's been my home state for most of my adult life and I've never been shy about telling that to anyone who asks. And like many Texans in far earlier decades, I've come to view Texas alone, rather than the United States, as my homeland now that the government of the rest of the Union has proven itself spineless and unwilling to act by refusing to join a fight which Russia openly claims is aimed at them (which is why I replaced Old Glory with the Lone Star Flag on my ex libris.
It's also a state which, like my fiancee's homeland of Ukraine, has a history of repelling dictators on missions of genocide thinly disguised under pretenses of "liberation." (3) As we remember the Alamo, Ukraine remembers Mariupol. As we remember Goliad, Ukraine remembers Bucha and Irpin. And as Sam Houston showed Santa Anna little mercy after defeating "The Napoleon of the West," neither will Volodomyr Zelensky pull any punches when he accepts the instrument of unconditional surrender from Putin, Hitler of the East, after Muscovy is handed their rightfully humiliating defeat.
The other of the flags flanking the shield is the flag of my children's homeland: the Philippines.
Just like my Texan homeland did in the 1830's, and my fiancee's Ukrainian homeland is doing in the present day, the Philippines had to fight a war against a dictator and force him to acknowledge that their country existed at all. In their case, the dictator was King Alfonso XIII of Spain. And just as Ukraine has endured the humiliation of having her territory of Donbas and Crimea under an illegal occupation since 2014 by a tribe of drooling savages erroneously known as the "Russian" Federation, the Philippines has had their own Panatag Shoal and Kalayaan Islands illegally occupied by that tribe's puppetmasters: the Chinese. And just as the Ukrainian armed forces have finally rolled up their sleeves and begun to clear out the infestation of Russus Non-Sapiens from their lands, the time will soon come for the AFP to expel the Shi-Na Minzoku from the territory of the Philippines.
Kahit saan, alalahanin ang sarili mong bansa!
So, those are the components.
The emblem of a family, and an item representing the three different homelands (Texas, Ukraine, and the Philippines) from which I, my fiancee and my son all originated.
Important? Probably not.
Highly original? Not really.
An aesthetic masterpiece? No.
Subtle? Yeah, like a Mack truck driving through Chernobyl.
So, why even use it? I mean why hide behind a crest for an avatar like I did when I lived in China? I've already doxxed myself so it's not like I've got any stake in hiding my identity.
Essentially, the entire reason I use it is because it isn't subtle. Honestly, the age of subtlety is over. The time of "gray areas" is over. The days of nuanced worldviews where one had the luxury of sipping tea and haughtily asserting "not everything is as black and white as all that" while philosophically debating events that are destroying lives thousands of miles away, are over. The rise of Xi Jinping, and the emboldening of his puppet, Vladimir Putin, have brought the world into an era where there is a definitive right and wrong, a solid and clear line between liberty and subjugation. The war for the survival of civilization itself is underway (has been underway since October of 2017, frankly), even while pampered and ill-informed Americans flood social media with their First World Problems.
And I felt like making sure everyone who lays eyes on my avatar knows which side I'm on.
Якщо Бог за нас, то хто може протистояти нам?
Kung ang Diyos ay para sa atin, sino ang makatatayo laban sa atin?
(1) In every place, remember your Homeland: Harris Family Credo
(2) "Patriam (singular, accusative)" means "homeland," and the plural accusative is "Patrias."
(3) Putin's transparent excuse for invading Ukraine was to "liberate Donbas's Russian-speakers," Santa-Anna claimed he was entering Texas to free slaves. Both of them slaughtered civilian men, women and children indiscriminately and gave clear orders to leave no survivors in any settlement they passed.