For the Love of Our Many Lives

Abstract

__________________________________ As a young student graduating from college and entering a world of independence and freedom, I am forced to consider my life options while simultaneously being compelled to reflect on the past. Although no one can be a direct product of society, nor can one completely separate oneself from the influences of society. Therefore, it is necessary to trace the root causes of certain major decisions I have made in my life, and to learn how these decisions have affected me and my goals. Looking at economic status and social class is often the best way to begin to divulge into the inner workings of oneself. Important personal relationships have also had a dominant influence on who I am and who I have become. The question, whether these relationships led me onto a path that I chose or they pushed me onto a path which was deemed most fit, will be explored. In addition to various relationships that influence my identity, it is of primary importance to also analyze the lack of relationships in my life, and the roles I adopted as a result. These roles are roles not resulting from autonomous choice, but rather resulting from the society in which I was raised. In this paper I hope to uncover the often-subconscious effects of society and its relations, hoping to “link private and public; present, past, and future; and the life of an individual to the life of society and the meaning of the cosmos” (Bellah et al. 83). Only through deep inner analysis, while simultaneously examining the environments of the past and the present, can one truly understand oneself. I was guided off for my first semester freshman year to a university whose social working and cultural identity was far from what I was accustomed to. The combination of the estranged culture with the social environment of my family and the various corresponding identities, led to one of the most affective decisions of my life. I was also searching for self-definition as an individual: