'WHO' You Are, Not Who You Are.

We live in a world made up of so much diversity and culture; classes are taught about it, research is done to see if we all come from a common ancestry, and individuals spend their lives traveling to seek out exotic locales on this blue marble we call earth.

We come in all different colors, sizes, shapes. Speak different languages, pray to various gods, or goddesses, (or no gods at all). We cook with a variety of spices, some like it hot, others not. Mores of some religions forbid some food choices, while humane concerns limit others. We are teachers, builders, business owners, IT techs, cooks, cleaners, mechanics...

Who are we as individual people? We come from our parents, whatever color, genes, characteristics become the combination of DNA and magic that creates a unique entity- as unique as a fingerprint. That's us.

Some of us have very strong beliefs, enough to kill or die for, others more moderate soft on issues of politics and religion, happy to sit on a couch and be a potato. The span from one end of the spectrum to the other is so extreme it can only be marveled and studied by greater minds than my own.

Coming from a liberal upbringing my becoming a cop shocked my parents. Perhaps police officers have a reputation as slightly leaning to the right of ideals. But there I was, in a blue Seattle Police uniform...the art student from FIT college in NYC toting a big gun and bright badge.

Who on earth was I? On one side of me is the pacifist, the artist, the environmentalist, yet I agree with the death penalty, (especially if you murder a cop) and gun ownership, though limited to things that are not WMDs! I am not an advocate of welfare and unemployment for life, but for help, to get someone on their feet, and I am very much a supporter of the gay community, human rights, and animal rights.
My fellow cops kept waiting for me to spontaneously combust because who I was didn't exactly fit their 'standard'.

But aren't we all gradating shades from right and left in some ways? The person who appears to be into social injustice, wears Birkenstocks and socks and tie-dyed T-shirts, may support far right wing hate groups. We simply can't be categorized by stereo-types and generalizations. And shouldn't be.

But who we are as a combination of ideas and concepts of life as we think it should be or dream it can be, is not WHO we are.

I mean WHO we are when we look into the mirror and decide what kind of human being we have become. Are we the sort of individual that contributes to society, does no harm, stops to help a frail victim, cries for our fallen soldiers? WHO are we as the one on one personal contact you meet in freeway traffic- do you allow someone in your lane? Or do you flip them off and speed up to block their path?

WHO are you in a way that makes you connect with others who are like you, or not like you?
We are all made up of a million variations of culture, concepts of right and wrong ideology, and just plain old 'star stuff', to quote the brilliance of the late genius Carl Sagan.

But remember, there's a difference between who we are as it reveals 'what all of our past experiences have made us into today'- pleasant or bitter- and who we are as that combination of DNA, nature and nurture.

Go on, look in the mirror...ask yourself sometimes, "Who am I?" It's a hard question to answer.

But if you see a good person looking back at you, then you are wonderful and have done just fine. No matter where our journey began or where it has brought us to the present, how has it made you behave to others now? Everyone has a story. Everyone has a journey ahead. Who is the person you will be tomorrow?

Be safe out there.