I have about a dozen I.D.s. I bet you do too. I carry around mine all the time. Lately, I've been having to carry around a new school I.D. photo since about the time school started; it carries my cruddy and mug-faced picture and my school number. I've had my school number for four years and at the beginning I didn't use it that much except for sport, carrying it around. Now, I use it all the time to buy my lunch, to check out a book from the library, to get into Homecoming, and make sure, yeah, this is me. In school, my I.D. is my life. Without, I basically can't get around.
We all have different I.D.s. We have credit card I.D.s, internet I.D.s, phone number I.D.s, drivers license I.D.s, bank account I.D.s, and for law enforcement, badge I.D.s. Those slick, cold sheets of plastic tell others what they can expect and what to know about you: your credit card history, your internet history, what you've done in and around online, if you're pulled over, what you're prior record if if you happened to ignore a stop sign once before, your bank credit, or your position in society. Looking at your ID, they can see your picture and the robotic numbers of what you have done in public. Sometimes, an I.D. is all people need to know about you, what you've done in public. Often, an I.D. forms a first impression that is unbreakable. Once they see an I.D., people assume they know something about you. But tell me, when did an I.D. become identity?
We are not numbers. We are not credit or prior history records. Schools, in order to keep track of everyone, brands us like cows. Hey number 31245, how are you? A number doesn't make who you are. A credit card number, driver license, or bank account doesn't define you. We are branded I.D.s all the time while our identity slips away. Is it no surprise then, after we leave high school and into the real world, we don't have much sense of who you are.
Sigmund Freud's definition of ID is basically very overexploited and too psychoanalytical but he basically says the ID is what drives us, what moves, what shapes this. Even if I have no use for psychology, I feel this is a very good point. Identity is in fact, who we are. It is us as the individual, our wishes, our desires, our fears, our dreams, us. An I.D. can tell someone the statistical facts about you, numbers and a brief photo, a brief outlook on who you are but looking at an I.D. will not tell someone who you are. I.D.s are fixed number. They are not supposed to read your personality. In that way, your identity is not always your I.D.
Who are? Who are you really? What do you want? What do you wish for? What do you like? It’s okay to know who you are. You are not a picture and you aren’t a number. You are not some other person people can mistake you for. You are you, with all your simplicities and complications.
It’s important to know who you are now rather than later because in the real world, people are only going to read your I.D. and not give a second glance. It’s already started in school where you’ve become a statistic, another student in the population. Know who you are and let other people know who you are too. Speak up and speak out. Let others know you, don’t be another statistic. Let yourself be heard. If you wait, you’ve missed your chance to let someone know you are special.
Your identity is not your I.D. Keep it that way.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
I loved that. We are so much more than pictures and numbers, but it seems like that is all corporate America sees people as. It's too bad that people aren't able to break from that mold and be seen as the diverse and interesting individuals that we actually are.