I am NOT Josh Matthews.

The trouble with the world these days is that it’s inhabitants, the rational ones at least,  struggle to define what a thing is. Allow me to present this problem to you in a more simplified way:

If somebody were to ask you, “Who/what is Josh Matthews?”

I would expect to hear answers like these:
- he is an idiot
- he is a human being
- he is a philosophy/psychology major
- he sucks with girls
- he likes to hear himself talk
- he is Catholic
- he is a red head
- he is an intellectual

It wouldn’t surprise me to hear many qualities of Josh Matthews. But I am coming ever so close to the conclusion that I am not just Josh Matthews. If you define me by who or what I am then you are doing me an injustice. Likewise, if I were to define you by my experiences with you or even the qualities that you actually do possess then I am not adequately describing your essence and I am being unfair to myself as well. Let us put this example into practical use:

Place yourself in the 1950’s for a moment. Imagine you are an average white male of the times and if I were to ask you what/who is De’shawn Williams then I would reckon that your answer would be that of a typical white male, “A nigger.” This wasn’t so uncommon, as you know. My argument is that if we merely define a man by his skin color then we define ourselves also by skin color. So not only are you degrading De'shawn's worth but you are also claiming that you are no more than a white person. Skin color, in this case, becomes the essence of De’shawn and your own being. You have limited De'shawn and yourself.

Same goes for 1943 Auschwitz, Poland. If I were to ask you who Anne Frank was, I would assume that your reply would be, “A jew.” If this is the case you are limiting Anne to her religious affiliation. By doing so you are disregarding any other quality in which she might possess. You would also be limiting yourself to your own religion.

The above problems manifest themselves in many arenas of today’s society as well: homosexuality, government employees, religion, Middle Easterners, and other prejudices that we might have.

I ask myself, what is it that we should do about this problem. What is the answer to  “Who/what is Josh Matthews?” How can we accurately define a person? If we cannot merely limit a person to his/her particulars then how can we tell somebody who another person is? We can tell them what our personal experiences with this person have been like but we cannot claim that these personal experiences are generalizations for how the person always behaves.

These are problems that I am not sure how to address but I do know that these are definitely problems.  I am definitely open to suggestions or rebuttals.