Who are you when you're them?

This rather out of the blue topic has been around for many many years, yet I haven't got to the point to what am I supposed to write? I wonder then, how many of us actually have an identity? Identity. What exactly is it in an ever changing world, with an environment of always-changing people? From where I lived as a kid, I never thought I would ever leave that place, my hometown. Eventually I did. I left many things; friends, memories, fun and out of many more, my identity.

Have you ever wondered; why am I here? Why am I like this? Why am I friends with these people? I was talking in your shoes, not whether I, me, was here. ha! A while back I was thinking, what if I never moved to Doha, would I be the same person I am now? Now the answer looks simple, I wouldn't be the same, but it's rather not as easy as ABC. I thought about my friends; the amazing people that surround me, in person at noon and virtually over the internet at night. The different people I have socialised with over the years.

Then a thought struck me 'but I socialise with different friends in Indonesia'. I am fully aware that I do not act the same way as I would do with my friends here. There factors such as environment, understanding of the world, cultural difference. Whereas they're more down to earth and patriotic while I'm a more wide-ranged, not-so-justified-about-my-country critic. Thing is, different places will trigger various aspects of yourself. In school I'd be talkative while at home I don't talk a lot, that sort of thing.

Okay, now that the opening's done, all that, that's not exactly what I want to talk about, though it refers to everything I talked about. Whether you have moved countries, school or none at all, you will have various memories of your childhood, friends come and go. New and old. Fun and boring. Nice and mean. As a kid all of them are friends to us. When a family asks about someone you don't say 'that's a bully of mine' instead you'd say 'that's a friend of mine'. With childhood, comes massive fun. (yeah I took that from 'with power comes great responsibility). Well anyway, as a kid, among your friends, I'm sure you've been called something else other than your name; a nickname. A nickname that you're probably proud of, or rather a nickname that everyone call you as. Over time these names fade away, or if you move, you're a new identity to your new friends. You may be called something else that is totally unassimilated to your previous identity.

Behind every name there's a meaning. You were called such a name for a reason, maybe an achievement you achieved back then made you a 'Noble' to your friends. A goal you scored made you a 'Ronaldinho'. A writing you made, made you a 'Wilfred Owen'. It can be anything, one (rather personal) example, I used to be called a kancil (I'm not sure what it is in English, it's like a smaller version of a deer, more aggressive, quick and rather cunning) and that was me, for 4 years of my life. That was me. Then I moved, and no one knows about it, you can probably say that these names are inside jokes. As the years passed by I picked up other names. That, readers, was a start of an external identity.

What is the point of all this, now that it's a really long useless article. It is in fact to show how a person can hold many names; his own personality and different perspectives of oneself. One may be proud of his name, and others can reflect to why people call him a certain characteristic. The possibilities are endless, but for one thing, when a person is referred to a unique characteristic, the critic (or name) will be planted and for the circle of people around him in the current situation, he will be that.

These names, some day, may help a person be themselves. They know who they are around different ethical group of friends. They can refer to their friends as who he is to them, but project hints of his other personalities which will widen his friends' perspective of him. Socialise. These names will be planted in your head so deep that you will eventually refer yourself to that, and it will help you socialise. Trust me. You will end up acting as one, two or all of your affiliated critic and be yourself (hopefully for the best of humanity).