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February 4: Measuring Identity~

Posted by: nicsnotation | March 15, 2008 | 4 Comments |



  ~ “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) ~


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      I measure my identity against the people who surround me everyday. My peers, teachers, parents, siblings, employers, and community members are all people I compare myself with; to find similarities within myself and them. It is easy to compare myself with the people I see everyday, because I have a pretty good understanding of what they go through, and what point they are at in their lives. At least with my friends, we have grown up in a relatively similar environment and have overcome challenges both together and apart, so I know that aspects of our identities can be compared and measured against each other.

      I think more often than this, though, I am looking at the differences between myself and others. Sometimes this is a beneficial thing, when I’m looking to improve my labels and the way others see me. For example, if I see my friends becoming more responsible and I see that I should become more responsible, I change to be more like them. In other cases, this can be a negative thing. When comparing myself against others, I see things within other people that I lack. At this point, it’s not really measuring your identity against others, it is comparing and adjusting to become more like everyone else. It is discovering what you’re not.

      A song that illustrates this point is “I Don’t Wanna Be” by Gavin Degraw. He doesn’t want to become what everyone else is, or expects him to become, he just wants to be his own person. Measuring identity shouldn’t be about wondering what you have to do, or finding out what you’re supposed to be.

      It may sometimes be depressing comparing yourself with others and discovering what you are not, but it is necessary to grow. By observing people in the same environment as you, with the same culture and values, you can also find strengths within your identity. Your differences become what makes you unique.

under: ~ELA B30 Assign~
« January 28: Influences on Identity~
February 11: Qualities of Humans~ »

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Really cool voki thing Nicole! When I saw it on your page I went to the site and was playing around. I tried making one for myself, but I couldn’t put a voice on it because I didn’t have a microphone. I kept playing around though and I tried to make one that looked like Edward, and then Bella, then Alice and Emmett. It definitely distracted me from blogs for a night!

I agree with your response to the question, “Against what do you measure your identity and what do you compare yourself to?”. You said that you mostly compare yourself against other people, and I know that is true for myself as well. You said you mostly look at the qualities they have that you lack, and then you try to change yourself to be more like them. I thought it was interesting when you said, “It is discovering what you’re not”. It is hard because on one hand you want to be you. On the other hand you want to be the best person you can be, but how can you tell what needs to be improved on if you don’t compare yourself to other people? Like you said, comparing yourself is necessary for growth as a person. It needs to be a delicate balance though. It is important to keep a sense of personal identity while becoming a better human being.

   By: Megan on April 21, 2008
at 2:41 pm

I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the whole Voki thing (do you recognize the backgrounds for the two??), and my voice sounds really weird!! I don’t know if it were the microphone or because I had a cold…

I don’t think they have any characters that would do Edward or any of the other Twilight characters/actors for the movie justice! Lol, I’m going to have to do an entry on here that just has all my favourite videos on here so I can stop wasting my time on youtube!!

Thanks for the comment!

   By: nicsnotation on April 21, 2008
at 6:37 pm

You know, your post is so similar to mine that I think you may have copied it from me. Well I would think that if yours wasn’t done a couple months before mine. I do agree that we measure ourselves with the people around us. There really isn’t any other way to do it. We know the people around us and if they do something and succeed we can compare ourselves to how they did that and we can measure our ability to theirs.

   By: Graeme on April 23, 2008
at 3:45 pm

haha, you wish Graeme!

   By: nicsnotation on April 23, 2008
at 6:13 pm

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