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Thread: What markers do you define yourself by?

  1. #1
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    What markers do you define yourself by?

    I'll give an idea of what I am getting at here......it's obvious to anyone who has read my posts that my zip code and my social class experiences in America define me to a large extent - what defines you? Just curious......hoping this leads to an interesting thread. Rob

  2. #2
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    I am middle middle middle.

    My formative years were spent in the middle of the country, in the middle of the century, in a middle class household. Because I read widely I knew there was a wide world out there and I longed to get out of the incredibly boring small town/suburb where I lived, and always wanted to live in a city with some cultural differentiation.

    Now that I have your attention, I want you to talk about somethng you brought up in an earlier thread some weeks ago. Because this interests me a lot, I want to hear your justification for your point of view about how yoir neighborhood was screwed over by not being designated an historic district, or some such thingyou referenced. Why is that a bad thing in your mind, and in the mind of your neighbors?

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    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    I currently go by “Great Lakes shipwreck obsessed diver chick.”

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I am pretty much the same as IL. Going to college at 31 and having a career in human services defined my life as well as being a mother. Now that I teach a college course it is also part of my identity and is something that I always wanted to do.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Gardenarian's Avatar
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    I'm not entirely sure what you mean by markers. Is that what class or sub-class I belong to? Or is the things I have experienced and care about that make me who I am? My demographic?

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    I am defined by the impact of the choices I make in the circumstances I find myself upon my character. It’s a one-off, sui generis sort of thing.

    I don’t understand the contemporary obsession with applying labels to oneself and others.

  7. #7
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I am defined by the impact of the choices I make in the circumstances I find myself upon my character. It’s a one-off, sui generis sort of thing.

    I don’t understand the contemporary obsession with applying labels to oneself and others.
    +1
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  8. #8
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    People have always sorted, categorized, and labeled others. Think Hester Prynne. It's nothing new.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    People have always sorted, categorized, and labeled others. Think Hester Prynne. It's nothing new.
    Sure, but Ms. Prynne didn’t pin the letter on herself as Rob is inviting us to.

  10. #10
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    I mostly think defining oneself can be a trap, so yes one is this or that at a period of time, but may not be earlier or latter (as far as personality traits or circumstances).

    I'm not arguing some extreme converse (new age type of position) that we can define ourselves as whatever we want and it will become manifest as if we had absolutely no innate tendencies and there was no external reality. Uh no, just ... over identification with labels can sometimes be a trap.

    I have certain values, I'm generally nice, and good too really (not that that is the type of thing to brag about). Yes I'm fairly smart and able to learn etc.. Beyond that I don't know what I want to identify with. Sure at times I am brave, but at other times I'm not. Etc..
    Trees don't grow on money

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