Personality Molding (5-4)

I advise all of you to take this advice from Ed Hendry! As the title implies, this document will allow all of us to understand what it means to be a better person. My thanks goes out to Ed and his hard work.

Best to all, -John Ott

P.S. This is another "Clarion Call" for society. Don't waste the opportunity to change for the better.

Who am I?

The other day a friend of mine asked me, “Who are you?
I answered, “I’m Ed Hendry”.
He said, “No…that’s your name, I asked, “Who are you?”
I thought a minute and responded, “I’m a Video Engineer.”
Wrong again was his response, you answered the question “What do you do for employment?”
Is this a reverse Jeopardy Game? “I’m a human being.”
Wrong again, that’s your animal species. I want to know
WHO YOU ARE.
“What’s the right answer?” I asked.
He laughed and walked away leaving me confused.

That quiz bothered me for a while and so I began a search for an answer. I’ll share my conclusion with you.

As I hadn’t been good at answering the original question, I thought I’d start with WHAT AM I?

From the nose down I seem to be like an ameba. I take in water, air and food, convert them to nourishment and heat, and excrete the waste products. I have certain sensors, I can detect touch from a gentle breeze to sharp pain, and I respond to heat and cold.
But…there’s no intelligence here.
From the nose up I have two eyes (like cameras) that gather visual information. I could get along with only one eye, but the second allows me to evaluate distance. I have two ears (like microphones) that allow me to hear sound. One would be ok but two allows me to figure out which direction sound comes from. Lastly, I have a brain which is like a marvelous computer. It takes in all of my sensory inputs, has an amazing amount of memory storage, and outputs control signals to my body. Up to this point, however, I’m just like every other ameba.
So…If all of the physical stuff is the same, then WHAT ARE WE?

I think that each of us consists of a unique collection of thoughts that we have accumulated since birth, housed in a body. Now bodies come in all shapes and sizes: Some are short, some tall; some thin, some plump, some beautiful, and some ugly. This allows us to tell each other apart but is not who we are.

As you meet other people, look past their appearance. Try thinking of them as collections of thoughts, but different from your own. You can not control how they think, whether they like or dislike you. You can only share your thoughts, but they (like you) have the ability to accept your ideas or reject them, to remember or forget them.

All of the thoughts that you have accumulated, since birth, have been the result of your experiences or have been taught to you by others. When you were born your memory was empty. You had no idea what words meant. You learned a language. You were taught; good from bad, love from hate, and even happy and sad were learned feelings. Hopefully your teachers have done a good job in molding your collection of thoughts for this is what forms your “personality” and makes you unique.

Here’s the important part.

WHO YOU ARE, IS WHAT YOU THINK and how you share your thoughts and how you treat others, defines WHO YOU ARE.

Each of us has the power to choose how we think.
We can accept good ideas or bad.
We can think happy thoughts or sad.
We can be anxious or content.
We can be patient with others or intolerant.
We can choose to share our thoughts with others or keep them to ourselves.

Remember, you can be anything that YOU want to be.

Lastly, love is the feeling that makes life worth while. Don’t forget to tell someone that you love them.

I hope that this message is helpful to your understanding of WHO YOU ARE.

Sincerely,

Ed Hendry