A recent school assignment on – My Identity (metaphorically speaking)

I have always considered my father to be the king of similes and metaphors; much of my childhood was often related or compared to some off the wall and often non-related saying. However, even with all that, finding a metaphor that represents my identity is a difficult task. Somehow being “slower than cold tar in the winter time”, “quick as concrete” or even “so bright I called you son,” just doesn’t seem to really define who I am.
As I began trying to relate my identity to a metaphor I asked a friend what metaphor she would use to describe my personality, she jokingly said “you have more sides than “Sybil,” to which of course I said “no I don’t and neither do I.” She then went on to explain that what she meant was, in her opinion, I could be comfortable with any group. Of course she wasn’t really trying to say that I had more than one personality, or at least I hope not. Instead, she saw me as someone who understood and could have a deep relationship with many different types of people. She said I was a chameleon of sorts and could easily blend in with my surroundings.

That bit of insight made me think a bit about the validity of what she had said, and after some pondering I decided that perhaps there was a lot of truth to her comments. I have always tried to be that person that could look at any situation and see it from another’s point of view. So, what has formed me into this chameleon? My past has seen a fairly broad spectrum of life’s paths as well as some of the very different people that are often found along those paths. As a youth I could often be found either on a horse or a on a tractor, it seems I was always chasing cattle or cutting hay. Still today, buried deep inside, part of my identity still wears a Stetson hat and a pair of wranglers.
It seems every new step of my life has brought a new facet to my identity, the cowboy, the truck driver, the home builder, the son, the husband, the father, the student and the teacher. Life is a global event. Each part of it that crosses our paths affects who we become, the people, the places, the disasters and also the triumphs.
The events across the Globe truly play a part in the creation of this identity that makes us unique. Unlike in years past, the world is connected to such a degree that we are no longer immune to the pain of other nations and people. National disasters that would have once gone unseen by our unknowing eyes are now streamed in stereo and living color right into our living rooms. We cannot help but to be effected by the pain and loss of those we will never know. These events cause us to challenge our own identity as we ponder life and death, Heaven and Hell and the very reason for our existence.
These global disasters and major world differences all play a part in altering our sense of identity. They give us reason to question the very things we often take for granted. Why does one person live and another die? Why are some children given food while others starve? Has lady fate simply smiled more pleasingly on us or instead is she just an unknowing landlord? All of these things being dragged through our minds play a part in how we see ourselves, and how we handle these life events affect how we are seen.
Looking at the world on such a global scale I am forced to rethink this idea that I am a “chameleon.” Can I truly blend with all walks of life? This individual that I portray as being defined, perhaps is still no more than a morphing moth still changing until I no longer breathe or simply become to ornery to change any further.