This process of dismantling myself to see WHO AM I, REALLY?
is sometimes disturbing. That political map thing really is messing with my brain:
How much is ME, and how much is due to the influence of others on me?
If so, which influences?
Knowing who, does this change my beliefs or do I continue agreeing?
These are the questions I’ve been asking myself.
On this map of “people like me” politically (based on a handful of questions I answered), red (well pink) = STRONG MATCH
What do I find?
a) an area that’s NEAR where I grew up (where I never ‘fit in’).
This area is also the area where most of my friends MOVED TO after growing up. They’re living there, today, in different towns, ALL IN THE RED ZONE.
b) Amherst, MA. I went to Hampshire College for a year and a half. Red zone.
c) Mountain View, CA. Home of Google. I’M IN THE SAME POLITICS AS THE TOWN GOOGLE IS IN.
WTF
HOW MUCH of me is really me?
I’m not going mental over it. It’s just really really unexpected.
There’s not a lot of “red zones” to look at, so I’ll go through others… but so far.. I wonder…
If a story of my life were written 100 years from now, with the information like this… they would connect the dots and conclude that THESE INFLUENCED MY FUTURE [whatever].
Did they?
Maybe they did.
How much of me is me? Well, all of it.
But…
… I’m simply amazed.. that’s all. Just blown away at the oddness of it. For someone who votes but avoids politics otherwise… it kinda freaks me out a little. I’ll get over it. It’s just way of “seeing me” I never saw before.