Who am I?

Next week, I have some training for work.  It's a 'get to know your peers' type of training.  The kind that no one ever looks forward to.  It's suppose to make us closer as a group and all that HR bullshit.  I say that if you want to get to know the people you work with, get to know them over a glass of beer, but that's just me.  One thing that we are suppose to do is bring something that makes us us.  Anything from a book or a movie to, I don't know, your stuffed teddy bear you had as a kid.  Something that is significant to your life.  So what possession do you bring to this training if you have nothing that really makes you, you?

That's not to say there aren't things in my life that have made me who I am, but these things aren't material possessions.  Sure, I could bring in the Star Wars trilogy and say that these movies made me love science fiction and are some of my favorite movies of all time.  But how does that make me the way I am?  I didn't become some sort of astronomer or astronaut because of them.  I could bring in The Catcher in the Rye because it's my favorite book.  But that doesn't make me a spoiled rich kid with first world problems.  Multimedia doesn't make us who we are as a person.  Unless you are freaking crazy.  Who lets a movie or book define who they are?  They may have an impact on your outlook of life and the world, but that is just one small part of who you are.

I don't have anything from my childhood or even early adulthood that has shaped who I am.  There is no heirloom that has been passed down to me that has a great story of my family.   Even if I did have something, it creates a story, not a person.  Heirlooms passed down tell great stories of hardship and perseverance and can really put you in your place if you don't appreciate what others have gone through to get where they are today.  Whether it is a pocket watch or jewelry brought over from the old country it shows family pride, but doesn't make you the person that you are.

What makes me who I am can't be found in books or movies or any other material possession.  What makes me who I am is found in the morals that have been passed down to me by my family.  Having strong family ties builds a better person I believe.  So, unless I can bag up my entire family and bring them into work next Monday, I suppose a family picture will do.  Preferably one where we don't all have beers in our hands.  Or not.