Just Who Are You?

This is something I wrote for a publication about twelve years ago. The core idea came from a radio commercial and I took off from there:

Just Who ARE You?

I don’t care what your gender is … that just tells me how the chromosomes lined up. I don’t care what nationality you are, or even your race … those tell me where your ancestors came from and how they adapted to the climate.

I don’t want to know your college major, career plans or professional skills … they’re great on a resume and may get you a job, but they don’t tell me who you are. I don’t care what you do for a living … that just tells me how you manage to support yourself and your family.

What I want to know is WHO you are. Not what you can do or what you’ve done in the past; those are nice skills things.

Who are you? You are a unique creation; there never was anyone just like you and you don’t have to imitate anyone. Uniforms are fine in their place: they offer instant identity, but at the cost of covering up all those marvelous differences that don’t need duplication. Differences are good; without them, we’d all look a lot like railroad ties: seen one, you’ve seen them all. We’re always changing and only dead things stay the same.