"Be Yourself"

"Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones you want to have as your ancestors. You create yourself out of their values"- Ralph Ellison

In our country we are bombarded with the message to "Be Yourself". We try. We develop our own interests and preferences, but we forget how much we are shaped by those who came before us. Some of the most important people are our parents. They teach us morals, values, and right from wrong. They help us set goals and push us to succeed.  Yes, parents have the most direct influence on us, but so do other relatives, ones we may have never met. My ancestors that came to America made my life possible as well as those of my parents and grandparents. They may be long gone but their influence remains. I am classified by who they were, what they did, and where they came from. Nathanial Hawthorne ran into the same problem. He felt the weighed down by the choices and actions of his ancestors. The guilt he felt coupled with his talent for writing produced his most famous work: The Scarlet Letter.

The Scarlet Letter explores how different people deal with the punishments dealt by the society in which they live. Hester Prynn had to survive the public opinion of her actions (Hawthorne's ancestors) while Dimmesdale had to deal with the guilt from his hidden actions of the past (Hawthorne himself). Hawthorne's guilt about what his family did in the past shows in his cynical writing.  To me it is not possible to truly be your own person, to have been the only one to shape your actions and how you are seen. Everything about everyone is shaped by someone else; appearance, clothing, speech patterns, even ambitions.

www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you