True Self

At this point in my life I feel I have come across the question "Who are you" multiple times, and the concept of self definition seems to be a reoccurring theme in the scheme of life as a whole. I think especially now as a senior this question becomes even more important, and greater still would be the question "Who do you want to become?" After reading The Awakening, I think I view this question with more weight than I may have before. I think in today's society it is so easy to be caught up in the lives and ideals of others that one forgets how to think and act for themself and on their own accord. I think seeing Edna succumb to the ideals of her society and eventually not being able to live up to them and trying to free herself shows the seriousness that sense of self  should be viewed with. When I was younger my parents always encouraged me to be unique because I think those ideals are praised when one is young, but as we grow we seem to rely on society's ideas of what an individual needs to look like or act like in order to be "happy" or successful and I think that's what the true problem in life is, and that the all important question of "who are you" can't possibly help to fix this problem because by surrounding ourselves with these "ideals" we conform to the simplest ideas of what one "should" be instead of what one truly is.

I feel our generation needs to fight against this standard. I think everyday people struggle to find their place in the world because they believe there is no place for someone like them in this type of world. I think if people stopped judging each other and looked at what qualities are actually important in a person like their drive, and passion, and compassion that we wouldn't need to keep asking the unanswerable question "who are you," because we would already know. Everyone is just trying to be the best version of themselves and that "self" shouldn't have to be defined, because we are more than just words and adjectives, and I think that, in the end, is who we all should want to become.