This semester, I decided to take an intro level Sociology class. Growing up with my dad as a sociology professor made me think I would enjoy it, as I enjoyed his conversations and his views on culture and people around the world. I was wrong, very, very wrong. Sociology is my least favorite class this Fall, but today my teacher actually grabbed my attention. Both in sociology and social psych, we have been talking about “the self.” So my professor begins lecturing and I was trying to pay attention, and she asked, “Who am I?” She answered her own question and I once again lost all interest.
But her question lingered in my head, and it still is now.
Who am I?
When my professor answered her question she said “I am a professor. I am a sociologist…” And she went on to say she was these things that labeled her. But I wonder who you really are, professor? This is my whole problem with this class. My professor likes to tell us these statistics about people and how stats differ among cultures, but we never talk about why. What factors go into these stats. Why the stats are so. So I wonder, why is my professor a professor? Why is my professor a sociologist?
We are more than what we are labeled as.
I am a soccer player. I am a student. I am a personal trainer. I am so many different things, we all are.
I am a soccer player. But I am not my pass. I am not my shot. I am not my mile and a half time. I am a soccer player, and the type of player I am is not defined by a pass or a shot, but who I am as a soccer player is defined by my passion, my determination, my vision.
I am a student. But I am not a passing grade or a failing grade. I am not this sociology class. I am not even a student because I am enrolled at Berry College. I am a student because I love to learn. I am a student because of what my goals and dreams are. I am a student because despite the bad grades that come, I am smart.
I am a person. I am not just a soccer player. I am not just a student. I am not just one thing or a couple things or all of the things I do combined. I am a person who is a lot of different feelings and emotions and dreams and goals on different days at different times.
I wonder, professor, are you standing in front of me because of your passion of sociology, your passion to teach? I wonder if you have found who you really are, professor? I don’t think these people we talk about in class are the statistics that we label them as. I don’t think you are just a sociologist or a professor.
I just think we are so much more than we make ourselves and others out to be. We are not these labels, we are not our social status or our jobs. It’s just so easy to get caught up in what we are labeled as, a doctor, or a secretary, or a mom, or a friend. Do something because of your passions and your desires, not always because, “Oh, I’m a _____” There are so many options and opportunities in life to go and chase dreams or find new ones.
Who am I? I don’t know who I am, and I don’t know if I ever will. But maybe that’s what the adventure is about. Maybe we are the adventure.