Who are you?

If I was to ask this question, who are you? What would you say? Would you state your name? Or would you tell me what your profession was? I was asked that same question a year ago “Who are you?” and I stated my name. No that’s your name, I’m asking you who are you? The question to be honest seemed silly, and right away I snapped who am I? I’m me. I’m a father of 2, a grandfather of 2, a brother and a son and a friend to some. Yet the question wasn’t answered to both the person who asked and it wasn’t answered for me either. How can one simple question be so stumbling for someone who has lived his life up to this point believing to know who I am? The question posed was deeper than I wanted it to be. It was to make me think about the person that I was and is today. The question wasn’t about what kind of work I do, but more to the point of look in the mirror and see who you really are. Sometimes, when you look in a physical mirror we see the good the bad and the ugly. As we get beyond the days of our youth, we look to see if we still have “it” and yes there are days we still look as we did in our youth, and then there are those days when… well we look every bit of the age we know that we are. So the question posed to me, who are you? Was a way of holding up a figurative mirror to show me the me who on my good days who I know was and the bad days, and who I was really was, when things weren’t as good as I thought. The question was the true start of me answering that first inwardly, then outwardly to the rest of the world. It was the start of my journey not of finding me but understanding that I was and am today. Who I was yesterday (the past) is different than who I am today (The present) and possibly who I will be tomorrow (the Future) this doesn’t mean that ignore the past no, I honor my past always, and will still try to live up to the values that were taught to me. But now I have a different appreciation for those values. That part of me doesn’t change, but the question is asked for self-examination of the person with in you.  For example do you shy away from confrontations? If things need to be said do you hold your tongue and totally avoid saying how you feel? Why?  Sometimes we shy away from stating how we truly feel because we try to protect others from hurt, yet we hurt them more by not honoring them by remaining silent, when it would be better to be honest. What about you? Who are you?