A young man drove into the bank’s drive-thru to withdraw some money. "Can you identify yourself?" asked the cashier. The man looked into his rearview mirror, paused, and said "Yes, it’s me alright!" 

Okay, I admit it. This joke is always told about a young woman instead of a man, but I think that is gender bias so I tweaked it a bit! 

Identity has become a huge concern in our world today.  We have identity crises. We have identity security.  We have identity theft.  My only problem so far is that no one has wanted to steal my identity! 

Well, seriously, every aspect of our lives requires that we identify ourselves. Whether we are traveling through an airport or checking out at Wal-Mart, we are constantly being asked to identify ourselves. 

It seems that from the moment we become deeply involved in our worlds, we are always seeking to identify ourselves in some ways. Often we try to be someone we are not because someone else’s identity seems so much more desirable than our own. During our school days, we long to be in the popular crowd.  We long for acceptance and often act like a chameleon so that some one will just accept us. How deceived we are for what good is acceptance when it is based on inauthenticity?  Tragically, our opinions and values sometimes change moment by moment depending upon who we are with and how dominant their personality is.   Read more...