Identity

I'm sorry, but this is gonna be another long post...Ok so I've got this first year seminar class called "Making Room at the Table". It's an odd name, I know, but anyways so in this class we do a fair amount of writing; my prof refers to them as free writes. So on Monday I had a little bigger one about "identity". It was a pretty random assignment in which she wanted us to take quotes from our previous free writes and our peers free writes. She also asked that it be choppy ect. Anyways, most of that information really isn't important...So I wrote my 4-page essay and i've shared it with a few other people and the general response was awe. I don't generally allow people to read what I write, but because the response has been so positive I thought I might share a portion of the essay with you. It's just the last page of it and small portions might be slightly confusing, but anyways...enjoy!

What IS identity based upon?
To be completely honest, I don’t know really know exactly what identity is based upon. Is identity based upon our money? Is it based upon our race? Is it based upon our mistakes? Is it based upon a combination of all three of those things? Is it based upon a combination of many things beyond those three?
I’m sure that Webster’s dictionary has some simple, four-word definition of what identity is, but I think that it’s far too complex to define it with a simple phrase. I believe identity to be you. I think it’s not so much of what you look like, or your job, or what car you drive, but you. I think it’s your character, you heart, your passion, and your drive because it’s those things that define who you are deep down. It’s your character, heart, passion, and drive that make up the core of who you are, and not many of the outward appearances that people judge you by.
I feel like there are many people out there who don’t know their own identity. They have little character or heart, or they don’t know what they’re passionate about, or what drives them. I don’t know if I even know my own identity. I know that I am a woman of character…but I don’t always let it show through. I know that I have heart, and that it’s strong…most of the time. I know that I have passion…for some things. I know things that drive me…but I know there’s more out there. I know my character, my heart, my passion, and my drive, but I know them incompletely. Maybe it’s possible then to know part of your identity, and it takes time and experience to know yourself for who you are. I am only 18 years old, and I, Lord willing, have plenty more years to discover the rest of my identity. Identity is based upon you, at the core of who you are. My identity is based upon me… my character, my heart, my passion, and my drive.