Identity

You asked us to think about our identities. I just spent the weekend with all my family celebrating Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important Jewish holidays. I looked around the enormous table and had to ask myself, how exactly do I define my identity? My name is Michelle, I'm a female Caucasian, and half Russian half Israeli first generation American. Is that all I am? My family is a group of emigrants, escaping Russia with nothing but suitcases full of pictures and money sown into their jackets on the bottom of delivery trucks. They left behind a life of wealth and status in order to escape persecution, and came to the US with basically nothing. They rose up to have well-paying jobs that allowed us to live very comfortable lives. I believe my mother, uncle, grandmother, etc are all inspirations. Looking through our family photos this weekend helped me to see the struggle ad change thy endured.

As for my identity- I have many friends, a part time job, a tough school schedule, but I don't know that any of these things define me. I believe identity is determined by the choices we make and our reaction to the consequences of these choices. Just because I'm Jewish or Russian shouldn't mean that automatically i have certain characteristics, but it feels as if they are culturally and socially imposed on me. I'm someone that is still trying to figure out who I am and what I'm supposed to do with my life. I know that i want to have a comfortable monetary existence and a strong career and a family. does that make me a stereotypical middle class american? I don't know. All I do know is that identity is not something that can be brought down to one statement or fact to describe a complex and multi-faceted human being.