identity

Today is my birthday and I have cards to prove it! It set me thinking who I am. In chronological order, I am a son, brother, husband, father, brother in law, uncle, father in law and grandfather. I am a white older male, who is both British and Irish with 2 passports. Yet, I am  not simply the sum total of those things and yet all are part of me. I am a man with multiple identities. My identity is not also a fixed one, as I have just become a grandfather having lived 61 years without that identity. Anyway my point is a simple one, identities are complex things. When we meet people, we often judge them by one of these identities. Oh, that one, he's a grumpy old man. Her, she's odd. They... are immigrants. Those lot are teenagers and you know what they are like. And so on. So embrace who you are and who I am in all my identities, and set aside presumptions. You might be surprised!