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I, however, fulfill whatever "roles" are necessary in my life according to WHO, not WHAT, I am. Some roles I outright reject, or modify in ways that other people find strange or even offensive. Not that I care.
"Roles" should not define or stifle who we really are.
All those words, but you didn't answer the question either. LOL Who are YOU exactly? Other than prickly and difficult?
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness
Who ARE you?
We are not our roles (i.e., mother, father, child, daughter, businessman, shopkeeper, etc.) - so HOW do you define yourself?
What/Who are you?
I have no idea WHO I am . . .
I know what I like and what I don't like.
I know what my values are.
But I have NO IDEA WHO I am . . . not a clue.
How about you?
Brilliant misfit with quiet insight, willingness to forego popular opinions for honest opinions, not a person who has much emotion and can keep emotions out of major decisions.
I know for sure that I am not the *Mother* of our dog or our cats since I did not give birth to them.
Other than that I am veins and bones wrapped in flesh and hair and a continued who I am in progress.
Annnnnnd more importantly...in a hundred years...who'se gonna CARE ?
Only YOU can make that determination.
Interesting point to raise. I got into genealogy a bit, tinkered with it really, and going back...mostly we have basic stats on people, maybe if we're lucky some locations or vocational information, possibly even a photo, maybe even a piece of real estate they built or lived in. A gravestone.
What was more valuable to me are the stories. I have a great-great Aunt Polly, who died before I was born, but I own a cross-stitch thing she made. My Grandpa went to a family dinner when he was courting my Grandma, with all the aunts there, the whole big family, and he tells about how Aunt Polly (the rascal) just to embarrass him since he was already nervous, when she passed him the butter, she poked it forward at him, at just the right moment so his thumb stuck right into the butter. She was notorious for her little pranks.
I think that more people need to write stories like that down, so they are not lost and forgotten.
My ex husband used to say that I should be proud to shape my identity around being a wonderful mother and loving wife. What more could I need? When you are known only for your roles to others, and leave nothing more of yourself behind, in 100 years your name will be forgotten except in the odd descendant's fleeting genealogy project. Just a faceless link in a chain.
I think we can do better than that. It's a good reason to document the stories that make up our lives, so that others one day can read them. Some people question if their descendants would care...well, I certainly do. I love to find out things about my ancestors.
At 70, I'm still a work in progress. I'm more daring than I was at 50.....maybe I have less to lose now? I'm an adventurer, a questioner of rules, an impatient person, a tough old bird. Hear me roar.
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