Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Who Am I?

Who am I? I don't like taking pictures of myself. So I had to come up with a way to take a picture that represented who I am without me in it. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "He wears many hats." used to describe someone. I decided that would be a good way to express who I am without having to take a picture of me. These are some of my most prominent hats and represent important aspects of my life. They are in no particular order of importance.

The closest to the camera is the bandanna I wear when I play gigs. So it represents my music. The gray fedora behind it was given to me by my grandfather, before that it belonged to my great-grandfather (who had a very small head) I used it to represent my family. The white ball cap is the one I wore as drum major of the Marching Salukis. It represents my time in the Marching Salukis as well as my time at SIU in general. Behind that, is my patrol cap which represents my service in the National Guard. Finally the motorcycle helmet, because I love my motorcycle!

So all of these represent me and things that I have done, but the question is "Who am I?" this is a difficult question to answer. When ever you meet someone new you usually start with names. Then often the conversation turns to "What do you do?" maybe this is because actions speak louder than words. You can tell a great deal about a person by knowing what kind of things they do and enjoy, but is this really who they are?

As I have reflected on this question today, I have come to an answer. I don't know if it is the right one but it is an answer all the same. Who am I? No one of consequence. Now I don't say this in some sort of self-effacing or negative way. I'm not looking for pity or moping around all ho-hum woe is me. In fact quite the opposite. Stick with me hopefully it will make a bit more sense.

This evening I attended an Ash Wednesday service. As the ashes were placed in a cross on my forehead, the pastor delivered the whole "From dust you came, to dust you shall return." It seems a bit morbid. "Hey glad you came to church by the way: you're dirt!" Try thinking about it differently for a moment. You, me, everybody a bunch of mud people walking around. Crazy! Nothing but dirt and God is SO good he can make awesome things happen. Every symphony ever composed, every work of literature ever written, every sculpture, painting, architectural masterpiece, EVERYTHING... Its all dirt. Pretty cool! I've never seen dirt do that on its own. Something had to help. So again I say: I am no one of consequence. I'm just a pile of dirt, but God has done some pretty cool things with this pile!

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