Who Am I?

Who Am I?

Noori Chun

    My son is a picture of my father.  When I was pregnant, after seeing a sonogram of my son, I was speechless. The baby in the sonogram looked just like my father. They are like two peas in a pod. For example, my father and I have a special shape of the ribs which is very different from other people. Surprisingly, my son was also born with the same physical trait. All people in the world have their roots where they come from to have reason for existence. However, no matter who they are, each person is different and unique due to multifarious reasons such as culture, ethnic background, ideology or personalities. I will describe myself through four representative aspects which make me who I am.

     First, in terms of cultural identity, I am Asian. My country has 5,000 years of long history during which it couldn’t help avoiding profound affects from China. The influences, Confucianism has a big impact on my life. For instance, Confucius claimed that people have to be polite to elders. So I always think of my behaviour to seniors in order to check whether I behave well enough or not. This idea is deeply rooted in my mind.

      Second, I am a teacher. I think my role as a member of a society is to educate people to make mature citizens. I hope that I will be able to contribute my life to others. This is my social identity which gives me a responsibility using my natural and educated abilities.

     Third, my personal identity can defines me. I am not quite sure if I can change my personal identity or not because I had looked forward to changing my identity many times back in time. With hindsight, it might have been a time when I could not find myself who I was. I wanted to be an energetic and extroverted person but I was fairly modest and introverted. Now I have contradictory character both introvert and extrovert. It could have been possible because I tried. Or I could be just that person. Anyway, I am so proud of myself that I have had time to think about myself.

     Finally, all these different types of identities define human beings who they are. Having experienced all these background of cultural, social and personal identities, I could establish a clear concept of life principles. One is ‘Carpe Diem’, and another one is ‘This, too, shall pass away.’ I hope that people recognize me as a positive person when they think of me. There might be another my identity from other’s eyes, but I know this is also originated from me!

     We are all different like a rainbow. If people respect and love each other regardless of any differences, the world will be a beautiful place where everyone can coexist like the rainbow.