"love me for who i am! accept me for who i am! appreciate me for who i am! {insert imperative verb} me for who i am!"
and i was just thinking... it's such a loaded demand. what dictates a person's identity anyway?
who are you? who am i? what makes me Me?
first response: i am {insert name}. but if i change my name, am i still Me? i believe so. therefore my name does not dictate my identity.
what about occupation? people seem really caught up in introducing themselves with their occupation... "hello, i am {insert name} and i work for {insert company} as a {insert occupation}. is occupation really so important? why is it one of the first things we tell people about ourselves? people switch occupations all the time, too... does a person's identity change each time? my perception of identity doesn't account for change based on occupation. i'm going from science to linguistics and i'm still Me.
what about gender? ahhh... and now we've entered the physical/corporeal realm of identity. if i were male, would i still be Me? it's easy to say no, but let's explore this a bit further. what makes a person male or female? seriously. i'm sure people answer this on different scales. genital parts? surgeries nowadays can add and take away accordingly. does this addition/subtraction change the essential identity of a person? i don't believe so. xx is xx and xy is xy and that can't change. if i lost my arm in an accident, am i any less human? i don't believe so... i would still consider myself Me. so if a person lost a genital part, are they no longer themselves? nice try, but no. it's like getting a name change... in the end, i'd still be Me.
let's extend the physical discussion. how far can people physically change themselves before they are no longer themselves? is it even possible? again, i guess it depends on your definition of identity. if i dye my hair and put on makeup, i'd still be Me. if i get braces and laser eye correction, i'd still be Me. if i entered myself into a senseless reality show like The Swan and got a whole body makeover to the point where i'm no longer anything like my old self, i'd still be Me (as much as i despise such methods). i say this because of those who suffer other extremes... for example, if i were to be caught in a fire and burned beyond recognition, would i still be Me? of course!
it's so tempting, then, to conclude that genetic make-up comprises a person's identity. what about cancer, then? do the cancerous parts of a person have a different identity from the healthy parts? what about hormone injections? implants?? that's donor DNA right there. i would still consider myself Me with someone else's organs. so then, what percentage of my DNA would contribute to me still being Me? 50%? what if i get all my organs replaced and end up with less than 50% of my original body? would i still be Me? i say... yes.
so whatever dictates my identity must be more than physical then. emotions? no. they're just expressions of identity; they don't control it. if i was an actress, i may be playing a part, but even then, i'd still be Me acting like someone else. personality? hard to tell... this kinda ties in with genetic make-up and hormones and what not. it's easy to manipulate certain aspects of a person's personality by given them medication to control their hormones. does this affect the identity of a person? i like to think not.
what about the mind? hmm. the mind, as in... what? the ability of the brain to manage the body? the ability to reason? consciousness itself? if something happened to reduce any of these abilities (ie. a person suffers a stroke or is in a coma), does the person still retain their original identity? if i am lying comatose and attached to a machine, am i still Me? it's getting trickier to answer, but... yah, i believe so. as long as i'm still breathing, my soul continues to dwell in my body.
soul... hmmmmm... let's continue with the above example. if someone were to pull the plug, when is it that i stop being Me? when i no longer show any vital signs, is that lifeless body still Me? do i still exist as Me after physical death? that is, does the Me in the former physical body equate to the same Me after the body has been shed and a new one is taken on in Heaven? i believe so.
i'm not sure there's a particular point i wanna drive home at the end of this lengthy ramble.
then again, who says i need a reason... hehe.
i'll end off with the following verse:
"Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker."
--
Psalms 95:6
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