Who am I? Who are we?

 

My Bangkok

This is a picture of a scene from outside my front door.  The tent is a new addition.  I saw it and it struck me, depending where you focus on the scene, you see two contrasting pictures.  When you focus on the little tent, you see a rural setting.  When you shift your focus to the wider setting, you see urban Bangkok.  What you have before you are two very different interpretations of the same centre of attention, a tent pitched in My Bangkok.   

This simple photo raises the issue of identity.  What am I looking at?  The answer is it may depend on where I stand in the photo, for if I am at the little tent, I may not see all those tall buildings around me.   

Who am I?  The response depends on who is asking the question - myself or external players.  It depends on the context and perspective.  How much self-awareness do I have?  We may say, "I know myself best". However, is that always true? Then does it matter how others see me.  I know what I have to do, do I always?  Shakespeare put it this way - "To thine own self be true".  Are we always?  The questions keep coming.  

No person stands isolated from the rest of humanity.  As John Donne wrote, "No man is an island".  Pope Francis keeps reminding us that our journey is never taken alone.  Rather we stand together, even when acting seemingly alone.  Such is the solidarity of humanity.  

They are simple questions : "Who am I?  Who are we?"  Are they?  They may be easily voiced but they surely are much harder to flesh out, to live out.  This is in a world where one's identity is so easily defined by status, wealth, power, looks and fashion.  All these criteria ultimately prove shallow.  We are rather defined by the strength of our character, as Martin Luther King proclaimed.  We are defined by how we stand together and look after each other, especially by how we reach out to each other in our weakness and poverty, not just material.  As Gandhi said - "The true measure of any society is found in how it treats its most vulnerable members".  Or as Jesus taught his disciples, do not be ruled by the temptation to be relevant, spectacular or powerful.