"Hey, sorry if I upset you. I was only
kidding around," Mark replied. "I think it’s fine
for you two to go out; you’re perfect for each other. You’ve
been flirting with each other for the last – what –
three years? I would just consider my job if I were you. But,
then again, she might just be worth my job."
"Yeah, thanks Mark. I’m not upset,
but I really have to get to work," I said, ending the
conversation.
He left and I went back to work. But, because
of Mark’s joke, I couldn't help thinking about Max Vi’s
new question: "What was I?" If you ask
a person who somebody is, they will tell you the name of
the person, nine times out of ten. If you ask them what
they are, they will tell you what they do. In that case I guess
I’m an accountant. That's it! What you learn is what you
are! I am an accountant because I know accounting principles. I
learned accounting. What you are is what you learn to be. If I
were a dentist, I would have learned dentistry, if I were a
teacher I would have learned how to teach. That’s what he
meant. What you are is that which you choose to learn. You
have the choice to be what you are.
The thought made a chill shock my spine and I
knew that I was on the right track. Max had said to remember
that anything was possible with the correct knowledge, training,
beliefs and attitudes. I had no control over who I was, but I
was in control over what I was. To learn and believe whatever I
wished was my choice. Just like the little boy who asked his
father. I could be whatever I wanted to be.
Again a chill through me, stronger this time.
Unlike who I was, over which I had no choice, I could
choose to learn to crawl, walk, run or swim.
Well then, what was I? Was I just an
accountant? I shuddered. Surely I was more than an accountant; I
had learned more in my life than just GAP accounting. Really, I,
like Max, was a magician, too. At least I could perform some
tricks.
At that moment I realized, "what"
I was, was just a label. To the kid who was told not to talk
with strangers, I was a stranger. He had changed the way he
reacted to me, because the label he had assigned to me said that
I was a stranger. We all assign labels to everyone, creating
what they are. Learning what you are is only part of what you
are. I knew who and what I was somehow was not
so important. It is more important that I am, just the existence
of me is me. I am a storage of experiences and knowledge. I am a
person, a real person. There is more to me than just who and
what I am.
