a message on her journey

A dusty road on a sunny afternoon

A tired wind blowing from the West

Rhythmic steps reach no soon

Nor can they stop to rest

And an impending feeling of worthlessness

I feel the unending road under me

Why this ordeal of unendurable stress

When I know my plans will turn on me

Then i saw a flying green leaf

Surprised I asked where you to

Still young, your life has been so brief

Have you not still plenty work to do

She mocked a sway but stood by me

My weary stance perhaps held strong

She agreed to take a message for free

To relieve my burden of a love song

I spoke my heart out to her-

Are you going to the Land of Spar

You will reach with the glorious sun

And see Him, mighty warrior at war

With times of agony, the awesome one.

When you see him give love from me

He will know at once whom you from

Take from him what he gives for me

And talk about how incapable I am.

Tell him how much i long to meet

This journey alone will lead to grave

If not for his embrace so sweet

Death come it'll be too late to save

Come my Love before my feet

Are resting in final bed endness gave.

Hurry little leaf, there comes a gale

Go merry dancing on success sail.

And off she went on her way, i still remember her rhythmic sway.

And off she went on her way, and off she went away.

WHAT/WHO IS A PERSON

I remember reading a poem during me primary school days- Solomon Grundy. It goes like-

Solomon Grundy, born on Monday,

Named on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday, worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday, and was buried on Sunday.

So this was how poor Solomon Grundy lived his life. So does this tell us about Solomon as a person? Do we come to know who Solomon was from these four lines? Perhaps we come to know that he lived and died, did what a normal man does. What I am trying to say is that what or who a person is, can be very well understood by the kind of life a person lives, how he is in a society and how he participates in a society.

According to Oxford dictionary, a person is an individual with particular character or tastes, an individual human being. So what decides this individuality? It is the differences between that individual and others around him or her that makes the individual distinct and decides who or what that individual is. The character and tastes decide how that person reacts in various situations and that tells us what role and position that individual has in that society, which largely helps us understand the personality of the person. Well, personality and person are two very distinct and wide terms and though they overlap at some point, they cover a lot of other areas. For example, if a person is very verbose and makes sure that his/her points are put across very clearly and that others agree with him/her, then we can say that he/she is a very assertive person. Similarly, if a person is not very talkative and keeps to himself/herself, then the person is said to be “not very social”.

The interpersonal relations between people tell us how they are. A great thinker once said that if you want to know how a person is, see how he treats his juniors (or inferiors). Also we have heard of the saying that goes- a person is seen by the friends he keeps. So what or who a person is, is decided not only by his character or tastes, but also by the company he keeps and also how he treats others around him, preferably younger people or economically/professionally inferiors. In the movie Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, the character Professor Dumbledore tells Harry Potter that it is our choices that determine who we are, and not our abilities. Taking from that, I would say that who/what a person is depends on what we want to be as a person, what we choose to see ourselves as, and not merely as what we are capable of doing on the basis of our abilities.

Besides, the society is also an important deciding factor about the development of an individual into a person. The society helps form a distinct identity about him or her. Taking a very simple example, actor Saif Ali Khan would be known as just Saif in Bollywood, and all over the film-crazy India. But at his ancestral house, he will be known as Nawab Pataudi, or, Nawab Saif Ali Khan Pataudi, the heir of Nawab of Pataudi. So, as he goes in different societies, his identity changes, and who he is as a person also changes in these contexts. So, who or what a person is, depends on his company, his behavior towards others, his self-perception, his interpersonal associations and the society.

WHO AM I - an answer w.r.t. Abnormal Psychology

WHO AM I?

The concept “who am I” is like a huge umbrella, it covers areas so diverse and wide that I cannot comprehend their reach. So if I ask myself who I am, or if I seek an answer to it as an answer to someone else’s query, my answer would vary with each context, mood, situation, genre of classification and my psychological and physical condition.

When I am in a mode of self-introspection, I would close my eyes and think about myself and form a theory about myself. But, this theory will also vary on the factors I mentioned above.  Like, for example, now I have had a long day at college and I am tired, I am missing my parents and I found they are busy and cannot speak to me now. So when I close my eyes now and think about who I am, I might get such thoughts – I am a lost person, I do not know what I am doing and what I want from my life, I am not wanted by anyone, I am far from home and lonely; and then, when I have had a happy day, I would close my eyes and might feel such things about myself- I am like free bird, I am sensible and smart, I love all living and I am loved each day, I am going to make a change in this world. But do any of these feelings actually answer the question as to who I am? Maybe no, or maybe yes, to an extent. So, how can I give a near perfect answer to this question?

There is a saying in the bible- “Seek and you shall find it.” And a great philosopher once said that the greatest knowledge is self-knowledge or your awareness about yourself. What is my self-awareness? Is it my sense of seeing myself as being distinct from Other? Is it my awareness of understanding me when I look at a mirror? Again, maybe to an extent, yes! I look at myself in the mirror and say- I am a nineteen year old female, perhaps a bit physically immature for my age, braced teeth, carved brows, full lips and a well-maintained athletic body. But is that all what I am? Why, at certain times I find myself as a learner, a teacher, a bold yet a conservative woman, an achiever, a sacrificial figure, a scientific, yet a religious person…well, is it not the ancient Roman theory of contraiis contraius working within me? So, finally, who am I to me? Or what am I? I can say that I am a cocoon of conflicting aspects of various essences of life co-existing in me; I am a vessel half full, continuously thirsty for more life and energy-both positive and negative.

So then, who am I to others? Perhaps this is a question constantly asked by me or even by others. Often people ask – “who are you?” or I ask “who am I to you”. For the latter question, the answer will keep changing depending on the person addressed, but for the former question, perhaps these lines would convey more-

Daughter of Eve, born of love and pain,

I, a woman, have numerous chains

To my loved ones I am adorable queen

To others I am a mystery unseen

Unseen because none that I ever met

Are bereft my love and graceful net

Powerful, a home of wondrous dreams

A secret sacred ground of fertile streams

A potential nurturer of new life within

I am a woman, a mother in being.

My arms ever-open to receive them

Children lost in ways surly, insolent.

Maybe, to say who I am would have to write a book and still I would miss something. So, I would like to conclude my assignment saying that I am to each person what I think I am and also what I want them to think of me. Also how I see them makes me what I am in their eyes. So the concept of who I am depends also on the mutual relationship I share with others because others act as mirrors to tell us who and what we are.