Who are you?
I want to know, too. (Did I know and forget? Gosh, I'm getting old. 
)
I agree, Cerin. One of the things that's the hardest to convey to people who've never experienced a messageboard community is the depth to which you get to know the people. It's really much deeper than you usually get to go in real life. It's a very unique and amazing experience.
)I agree, Cerin. One of the things that's the hardest to convey to people who've never experienced a messageboard community is the depth to which you get to know the people. It's really much deeper than you usually get to go in real life. It's a very unique and amazing experience.
I remembered! Maybe my brain is still functional after all! 
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narya
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Back to the topic.....
I think that your appearance is a part of who you are, but only a part. It is an outward indication of how, in general, you might have been raised and how it might be going now. I'm aware of it, but I try not to prejudge by it. I just don't attribute much to looks. I saw a person in the store yesterday who looked just like someone I know. But I can imagine this stranger was quite different on the inside. My friend is a software engineer from a big city, with a great sense of pun humor, a passionate dragon boat coach, a Catholic, a doting father, an immigrant who had a very different childhood than me, and a restaurant owner/manager. But you couldn't really tell that by looking at him. All you could tell is that he is of Chinese heritage, male, about 50, fit, and often smiling. The stranger appeared to be all of those, but appeared to be a local resident in a rural grocery store in Kauai, Hawaii. But I suppose he could have been a tourist and just knew how to not dress like one. And to look at me in that store (dressed pretty casually, buying some food, looking almost like a local) would you know that I'm a civil engineer from a big city, with Alaskan heritage, who likes to dragon boat and discuss the meaning of life from a Tolkienite perspective with people halfway across the world? Because all of those define me much more than how much I weigh, how dark I am, my gender, my apparent ethnicity, the clothes I wear, or the contents of my market basket. Granted, those are a foundation upon which I spent my formative years (I would have been a quite different person growing up as a Chinese male) but that is only a very broad brush. All Chinese males are no more alike than all women who look like me on the outside are like me.
I think that your appearance is a part of who you are, but only a part. It is an outward indication of how, in general, you might have been raised and how it might be going now. I'm aware of it, but I try not to prejudge by it. I just don't attribute much to looks. I saw a person in the store yesterday who looked just like someone I know. But I can imagine this stranger was quite different on the inside. My friend is a software engineer from a big city, with a great sense of pun humor, a passionate dragon boat coach, a Catholic, a doting father, an immigrant who had a very different childhood than me, and a restaurant owner/manager. But you couldn't really tell that by looking at him. All you could tell is that he is of Chinese heritage, male, about 50, fit, and often smiling. The stranger appeared to be all of those, but appeared to be a local resident in a rural grocery store in Kauai, Hawaii. But I suppose he could have been a tourist and just knew how to not dress like one. And to look at me in that store (dressed pretty casually, buying some food, looking almost like a local) would you know that I'm a civil engineer from a big city, with Alaskan heritage, who likes to dragon boat and discuss the meaning of life from a Tolkienite perspective with people halfway across the world? Because all of those define me much more than how much I weigh, how dark I am, my gender, my apparent ethnicity, the clothes I wear, or the contents of my market basket. Granted, those are a foundation upon which I spent my formative years (I would have been a quite different person growing up as a Chinese male) but that is only a very broad brush. All Chinese males are no more alike than all women who look like me on the outside are like me.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
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narya
- chocolate bearer
- Posts: 4904
- Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:27 am
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I think what I was trying to say in my long ramble is that too often, people meet me for the first time and within a minute or two put me neatly into the box labeled: Caucasian, female, "well nourished" as my doc always used to write in my records, middle aged, ambulatory, American English speaking, average intelligence, mentally stable, relatively clean, and of average clothing. Clearly a different box than just about everyone I work with, most of the people I boat with, and most of the people on this board. On the one hand, I don't take for granted that my friends have the same baggage. I'm aware of the white privilege I grew up with, that others did not enjoy, and that Other backgrounds deserve equal respect. On the other hand, I keep an open mind and expect to be interested by and hit it off with anyone I meet, regardless of box. It makes for a great adventure.
So much for a short summary to my long ramble.
So much for a short summary to my long ramble.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus