Some years ago, a young man said to me, "I am my experiences."
That young man is correct, for I, too, am my experiences, and therefore---I am: that I am.
My experiences have aided me in becoming the person I am today, no matter if those experiences have been good, bad, or ugly.
My experiences were also choices---some refused, some accepted---but even those choices I rejected were still part of my experiences, or the I am: that I am. For even those rejected choices I had to replace with other choices.
Obviously, it is a combination of all three---the good, the bad, and the ugly---that have helped to shape me into the person I am today.
Across the years, however, my choices changed, and those changing choices also contributed to the person I am today because choices keep changing the I am: that I am.
No matter if people perceive me as being good, bad, or ugly, that choice belongs to them, even though this does not excuse me in their perception of me---unless, of course, I have chosen to present a false image, which will distort their perception of me.
Either way, no matter if I choose to be good, to be bad, or to be ugly, I am therefore responsible for my behaviors, as I am also responsible for my influence in the lives of others. While I can say that what I do doesn't hurt anybody, it certainly can, however, because of my influence---especially in the lives of others who look up to me!
It is therefore impossible for us to escape the person that we are, just as it is impossible for us to escape the person we will become: because change will continue and changes will produce the new me, or the new you, or the I am: that I am.
While I may not look much different from day to day, it could be easy to believe that I am the same me since yesterday because looks can be deceiving. Internally, I can be different from yesterday because you will not see a change inside of me---unless I tell you about it. I can wear the same face and you can perceive that I am the same me. I can put on a happy face and you may not perceive me as different from fifty years ago, when I also wore a happy face, or today, when I can also put on a happy face. For my happy face could also be fake.
Looking forward, however, choices will be in front of us from which we can either accept, or refuse, because change will always happen, and these changes in choices will also reflect the I am: that I am.
Children, on the other hand, have choices made for them and those choices (made for them) will enable them to remain the person they are as a child. Later on, they will make their own choices as they will also become, in their own way, the I am: that I am.
While I can say that I am always the same, or that I have been this way all of my life, that is only a deception I have of myself: or a belief I want others to believe about me.
Your experiences are not mine and my experiences are not yours. All of us see things differently and all of us perceive things differently. No two people will ever have the same experiences.
I am the I am that I am, and you are the I am that you are.
While it is important to consider how we look in the eyes of others, but how do we look in the eyes of God?
For God sees us as we were, as we are, and as we will yet become.
We cannot change the way we were, but we do have the power to change the way we want to be, and the way we want to become---if we want to.
That young man is correct, for I, too, am my experiences, and therefore---I am: that I am.
My experiences have aided me in becoming the person I am today, no matter if those experiences have been good, bad, or ugly.
My experiences were also choices---some refused, some accepted---but even those choices I rejected were still part of my experiences, or the I am: that I am. For even those rejected choices I had to replace with other choices.
Obviously, it is a combination of all three---the good, the bad, and the ugly---that have helped to shape me into the person I am today.
Across the years, however, my choices changed, and those changing choices also contributed to the person I am today because choices keep changing the I am: that I am.
No matter if people perceive me as being good, bad, or ugly, that choice belongs to them, even though this does not excuse me in their perception of me---unless, of course, I have chosen to present a false image, which will distort their perception of me.
Either way, no matter if I choose to be good, to be bad, or to be ugly, I am therefore responsible for my behaviors, as I am also responsible for my influence in the lives of others. While I can say that what I do doesn't hurt anybody, it certainly can, however, because of my influence---especially in the lives of others who look up to me!
It is therefore impossible for us to escape the person that we are, just as it is impossible for us to escape the person we will become: because change will continue and changes will produce the new me, or the new you, or the I am: that I am.
While I may not look much different from day to day, it could be easy to believe that I am the same me since yesterday because looks can be deceiving. Internally, I can be different from yesterday because you will not see a change inside of me---unless I tell you about it. I can wear the same face and you can perceive that I am the same me. I can put on a happy face and you may not perceive me as different from fifty years ago, when I also wore a happy face, or today, when I can also put on a happy face. For my happy face could also be fake.
Looking forward, however, choices will be in front of us from which we can either accept, or refuse, because change will always happen, and these changes in choices will also reflect the I am: that I am.
Children, on the other hand, have choices made for them and those choices (made for them) will enable them to remain the person they are as a child. Later on, they will make their own choices as they will also become, in their own way, the I am: that I am.
While I can say that I am always the same, or that I have been this way all of my life, that is only a deception I have of myself: or a belief I want others to believe about me.
Your experiences are not mine and my experiences are not yours. All of us see things differently and all of us perceive things differently. No two people will ever have the same experiences.
I am the I am that I am, and you are the I am that you are.
While it is important to consider how we look in the eyes of others, but how do we look in the eyes of God?
For God sees us as we were, as we are, and as we will yet become.
We cannot change the way we were, but we do have the power to change the way we want to be, and the way we want to become---if we want to.
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