When a good friend of mine was dying he said he hoped he left something good behind and I told him he did a lot of good in this world because it was true.
When a good friend of mine was dying he said he hoped he left something good behind and I told him he did a lot of good in this world because it was true.
I would also have to go with the answer of "me". My identify is too complex and context-dependent to have a single label or "core".
And I often barely even identify as "me" - one of the reasons I live on a mountain on a remote island is I feel too strongly the emotions of others, which blurs the line between "me" and "y'all".
Perhaps this is just part of being human, but sometimes I will get a fleeting sense that I am living the wrong life. That the place I am and the people I know aren't really the ones I was meant to know in this life. Or that the essence of who I am is not being utilized as it could have been. Perhaps that is just regret or the thoughts of a person approaching their elder years - I don't know. Struggling a bit with this now since leaving my work of 15 years and soon to be my house and city. It makes me think about the anchors in our life that make up our so-called identity. I hadn't realized how "grounding" it was to have those constants. So now, I will pursue a new identity in some other place which is kind of exciting. The only constant I can carry forward is to be kind. That has always mattered to me.
A strong endorsement for moving to the kind of spots where community means bearing each others' burdens and joys. And an endorsement for dismantling the barriers in society that limit that kind of community. How can we create "remote islands" in our urban environments? If we could, we'd all be better off.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
Sometimes when I'm tired of all the labels, I just want to say "I'm human" and leave it at that. Ha
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