Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Identity

Since we were talking about identity in class today, I thought of a poem by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I realized when I first thought about this poem that it had to do a lot with choice and not so much about identity. But then I thought about choice a bit more. When I actually thought about choices that I have made, I believed (and believe) that choice is a a significant part of identity, or at least my identity. If I think about certain choices that I have made in my life, I can pick out a lot of what I believe is my identity. For example, when I was three, I chose to become a dancer. From that age until twelve years later I continued dancing and being a dancer was a huge part of who I was. Another example of this is simply the choices I make on a daily basis. I choose to drink coffee in the morning, work hard in school and sports, and be humorous around my friends. These choices almost become unconscious because they are everyday routines. But they still define a big part of who I am and I strongly believe that the choices people make define them. This is not to say there are no other contributing factors to identity, but now that I think about it, my identity is the choices I make.

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