Al Harington

At chapel on wednesday, Al Harington came to talk to us. He is a former Punahou student, that used to live in Halawa. He told us his life story and told us about how he grew up really poor. He told us about how sometimes he had to steal to get food to survive. This was all quite sad, but then he started to talk about identity. "How ironic," I thought. He said, "You are what you think, not what you environment is." This turned on a lightbulb in my head because in class we never really brought up this point. We had some similar things, but no one ever mentioned this. I thought about this for a while, and I would like it to be true, but life isn't always what you want it to be. I agree with him, but i also dissagree with him. what you think you are is definately part of you identity, but what your environment is can affect your identity. For example, if you grew up with drug addict parents who never had enough money to buy you food because they would spend it all on drugs, then you would probably have much less opportunities and resources. You might not be able to go to school, so you wouldn't be educated, causing a huge lack of opportunity. Another example is his own life story. He grew up poor, so he had to steal. This makes part of his identity a stealer. Even if he stole for crucial reasons, it doesnt make it right, he still stole. My point is, a person's identity can be what they think of themselves, but it is also based on other factors.