Videos for week three - Identity

 For this week's videos, we are discussing identity. To have an identity is to combine all of the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that end up being one's sense of self. I think what makes up my identity is how I present myself and what I not only believe in and what I stand for along with things such as my interests. As I write this, I realize how tricky it is to describe identity as it's not just one thing, but what you do in everyday life that makes up an identity from what foods you enjoy in the morning to what time you go to bed at night. Although identity is mainly formed by yourself due to you always being with you, not only are there identity boxes one puts themselves in there are also identity boxes you can be unwillingly put in. I think the boxes I'm put in are the ones people can easily see without any further information such as gender, race, ethnicity, how you dress, and even how one talks and walks can confirm people's stereotypes they have for others creating an identity that you may not even know about. I think the boxes I put myself in are the ones that include my interests and how I may style myself. I try not to put myself in a box as one thing, but instead, someone who is continuously growing every day to the point that a label wouldn't;t suffice due to it possibly being wrong or different the next day. I think the boxes that don't really convey how someone is are the ones where you actually have to have a conversation with someone to figure them out. A lot of people, especially in the media age, people will try to place an identity or put you in a box to make it easier for them to understand you as the unknown is scary to some, and in return, they want to find a way to define you to put on their mental scale of how you should be treated compared to others. Such boxes include looks, popularity, style, personality, and how valuable you may be to someone else in their life. I currently can't think of any other boxes that haven't been invented yet as I feel there are only an inside and an outside identity of what people appear to know, and what you know. Maybe another box is how the people closest to you perceive you as it may be a mix of both. In one of the identity videos for week three, I watched all of them but enjoyed "The Labels We Carry" by TGI Fellowship. I enjoyed this video as throughout the video he was carrying labels that others perceived him such as weak, nerd, and fragile with others being continually added on by people who only saw him on the street. At the end of the video, the guy with the negative and harmful labels gets a new label with it simply stating Loved changing the way the guy viewed himself along with a happy attitude.  My interpretation of this gesture was that if one person can change how they view a person it can change how the rest of the world views them which can then change how one views themselves. This week's topic was interesting as I have never thoroughly thought of identity nonetheless my own which gave me a new perception of just not myself, but others.