after-birthday post

So far I have asked about a dozen people these questions (or something similar) :

1. How do you define a person?
2. How do you define yourself?


I have had a dozen totally different answers, which led to more questions. We'll get into those extra questions later.

So here are some things that have been said in response to me being nosy and weird.

1. human being

2. child of God. i lead a faith based life so i define myself in a faith based way.

3. your self is whatever you leave behind. when you (quynh-anh) leave this house you always leave us a gift whether it is that chicory coffee or a toy for Autumn, or a book. sometimes the only thing you leave is a brighter feeling in this place and this is how we see you.

4. i define myself by how i live my life. i try my best to do no harm, i try to be kind. this kindness is seen as being weak in the eyes of the world, but what matters is what i do and how i use this life. if they choose to see what i define myself as (being kind) as weak then that is their choice.

5. i have had many selves, and you will too. it is like shoes. you can wear fabulous looking stilettos that are agonizing or you could put on those comfy, well worn, bedroom shoes. you can choose to live your life in a way that is tiring, painful. and looks good. or you could choose to live in a humble, good, and less glamorous life. as you get older you will transition between several different ways to live, different selves, and that is inevitable.

6. that just isn't a good question for this english language. we have so many ways to describe certain things but i dont think we can have a good way to name this "self". the belief is that when you name something it becomes real, you have some sort of label & ownership over it. that just does not seem possible in our language.



as you can see, i have more questions than ever.

so far i have gathered that the answer solely depends on the person. some of the same messages (although not using the same wording) are that self is defined by what you choose to do with the life you are given, how you choose to see the world, and it is always going to change because people are fluid and constantly evolving.

soon i will have a little camcorder and some plane tickets because i really want to spend one weekend in some major cities (miami, detroit, fullerton (orange county), new york, and of course my hometown of atlanta). expect video blogs to come.