We are who we are

I see a good friend living here from the USA.  In conversation, he uses a line I hear so often - "It is what it is.  I am who I am."  I think true but with a question mark.  Is this being too fatalistic?  Will I always be making the same mistakes?  Will I always be overcome by the same weaknesses in my life?  Is there nothing I can do to better myself and my lot?

There is a truth in the line used by my friend but I do not want to take it too far or else I become determined in life by my environment and my make-up. Each makes up my reality; each is limiting in its own way. 

A Bangkok Skyline 

Limitation is part of life as no one is perfect.  I accept that but, within my Bangkok, I see another aspect of human limitation as I too readily see those destroyed by drink and other vices, those conquered by a needy humanity, those going nowhere pursuing the purely fanciful.  Human limitation is like an art form on display in my Bangkok.  It is frightening and makes me not accept the line - we are who we are - for the more, the better is always possible.  We are always able to get up and start over again.  If not, do I just become another piece of public, human art on display in my Bangkok?  Life is about much more than who I am and we all deserve so much better in our short time on this journey of life.