Who Are You?

 I’ve had a thought since this morning, and I want to put it down and explore it a little, here, before I continue with my last Brave New World episodes, as each always inspires thoughts, and I want to explore this, first.

Here’s my thinking.  We are all influenced by our contact with others.  When I think of each job or friends or location I’ve been, each person around me influenced who I was then and who I’d carry on with me.  I feel we all, including me, are the sun total of the influence of others.  That’s why after breakups it is hard to sort out who we are apart from them.. because we are all who we are in part because of them.  

I don’t think we are supposed to erase that influence from others, because it helped shape us, even if who we are now and who they become are no longer compatible (they are changing from us, too).  That is true of family and friends, too.

So, I think the answer of the Cheshire cat’s question, “Who are you,” would be the response of growth by experience and exposure to others, and they are all influenced by us, as well.