You Are

Today I wanted to give my thoughts on identity. When I started middle school I began an introspective journey most teenagers embark on. I lived in my head for most of middle school and high school. I was always thinking and worrying about really nothing at all. I was always looking for a way to describe my life and identity. It felt like I was drifting through my life as I just thought and thought and thought about these things. But, life and identity can’t be explained and they don’t need to be explained. It’s funny how after all those years of thinking there never was an answer. I think it’s important to be introspective, but I think we should stop asking questions. 

I’m going to make an assumption and I’m confident this applies to most people. Time seems to go by faster and faster as you get older. Why do you think this happens? I think it’s because we ask too many questions and worry too much when we get older. When you were in grade school were you thinking about your future? Were you depressed when you were in third grade? Did you have anxiety in fourth grade? I know I didn’t. Everybody says they want to be a kid again, but that’s not actually true. People want to think like a kid again. There isn’t a future or a past, there’s the present moment when the past becomes the future. So many people are divorced from the current moment that they don’t really get to experience life. Do you have any memorable moments when you were on your phone? A lot of people remember their first kiss or when someone passes away or a game winning shot. Kids just experience life; they don’t worry about who they are, what they look like, who liked their post, where they’ll be in two years. As you get older, adults tell you to worry about this and that, social media makes you question your appearance, morals, and identity. All of a sudden it’s what college am I going to go to? I have to get good grades! I need these shoes, I have to do this and this and that. We forget how to focus and appreciate that we’re just alive and loved. 

What does this have to do with identity? Well I believe that who we are never actually changes. I think you’re the same person from when you’re born to when you die. People think they’re changing or growing when they’re simply realizing something about themselves. Let’s look at The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza starts out as a shy and awkward girl and by the end of the story I’d say she sounds more mature and confident. Would you say Esperanza changes as a person? I don’t think so I think she becomes more in touch with her situation and ethnicity which leads her to learn something about herself. I don’t think Esperanza as a person changed (Cisneros). Who we are has nothing to do with our body, thoughts, or actions. I think we exist as a soul or essence. Imagine we were all blind would we all still have an identity? I think so. If you stopped thinking would you still have an identity? I think so. If you had to sit in the same place for the rest of your life would you still have an identity? I think so. So who are we? As I said earlier we shouldn’t worry about who we are. People are like colors, they are all different and they can’t be defined. Red is red and that’s all there is to it. In The Spirit of Discontent from the Lowell Offering Ellen Collins isn’t growing or changing she just realized that she’s happier in a certain area with a certain group of people (Eisler). She could have realized that when she was five years old. You can say someone is kind, mean, beautiful, humble, or ugly, but you aren’t saying anything about who they are as a soul. People aren’t kind, their actions are. People aren’t ugly, their appearance might be considered so. You’re not a bad singer; your voice just doesn’t sound like anyone else’s voice.

I just want to end by saying that I think your body, thoughts, and actions are important but not necessarily to your identity. You should eat healthy foods, you should think about what you truly want, and you should act to get those things. I’m just saying that you should worry less about who you are and more about experiencing everything life has to offer. Think about what you truly want and who you are will naturally shine through everything. Two artists can paint the same thing. They don’t think I have to make this look a certain way or this has to look good. They just paint and their styles naturally manifest in the details. If there’s something you want just think only about getting that one thing all the time. Nature will decide if something you want to do is impossible. Everyday people do things that seem impossible. They aren’t amazing or born with something you don’t have. They just wanted something and got it. 

James Chupalio

Sources

Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. New York : Vintage Books, 1991, c1989.

Eisler, Benita. The Lowell Offering: Writings by New England Mill Women (1840-1845). Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1977. Print.