Who Am I?

I thought about this simple question the other day: Who am I?  Simple question right?  I mean, if anyone can answer who I am, it would be me.

Ask yourself who you are.......No seriously, do it.......Did you think about it and respond to yourself?......No?  Well then do it!

Okay, now that you were supposed to answer, how did you respond?

Did you use any of the following in your answer:

• Name
• Mother, father, daughter, brother, friend
• Religion
• Occupation
• Nationality
• Dreamer, creator, realist, pessimest, etr.
• Personality trait
• Current emotion (ie, I am annoyed)
• I don't know

That last one was part of my answer.  The other part is the question: what specifically do you want to know?

See, there are so many ways one can answer this question because there is not one thing that defines us.  Your name does not tell anyone anything, especially when your name is as common as John Smith.  There are millions of mothers, brothers, friends, Catholics, Muslims, teachers, doctors, lawyers, happy, confused people in this world.  So when asked who are you.....who, exactly, are you?

I don't like this question, because in most cases, I'm not telling you who I really am, just what you want to hear.  For example, when going for a job interview and asked by security who I am, the correct answer would be my name (followed by displaying my license).  

But what if this question was more open-ended and someone wanted to truly know who I was?  How you answer the question says a lot more about you than what your saying.  For example: you answer with your name.  That shows you are straight to the point and that your name defines you in your mind (and your name better not be John Smith in that case).  Or if you answer with your religion, you probably value your religion deeply.  If your answer includes words along the lines of dreamer or someone who views the world differently, then you probably don't view what you are as who you are.

So what is my answer? 

I don't know.  

I don't know how to describe who I am and I am perfectly fine with that.  Why? Because that is just who I am (yes, I made a non-answer into an answer, college makes you a pro at that).  I'm sure if I ask my parents or friends, they'll have their own answer to describe me but remember, that is their view of me.  Plus, no matter your age, you will always be at a point in your life where decisions you have to make will define you more.  So who you are will always be changing (no one was always an angry I-hate-the-world overworked employee). So if you don't know how to answer the question, my belief is you shouldn't worry as you know who you are well enough to know you don't know.