Tania Mitchell Identity

While I was reading Tania Mitchell’s paper on Identity and Social Action, I was really moved by the statement she makes about Identity and how it can be shaped by society and life experiences. I was thinking that we are all born into a world that is filled with different prejudices and stereotypes, but our upbringing can either hide these injustices or bring them front and center. I personally identify as a white, male, college educated and suburban breed, these little descriptions of me have shaped how I look at life and how I have lived my life. I don’t have to face many of the injustices and prejudices that people of different identities have to experience throughout their life. This means that we may all be human beings, but we are all …show more content…
I am an atheist, it’s just the way I see the world and how I perceive life, but throughout my life I have lived in a Christian run community and had Christian friends and are devoted to their religion. I only recently revealed to my closest friend that I identify as an atheist and the backlash I feared did not occur, they were completely understanding and accepted my thoughts, even though he is a completely devote Christian raised person. It’s scary to live in an environment where you are in the minority and that minority opinion could potentially upset someone, so it was incredibly relieving to have my friend accept my stance that completely goes against his identity as a Christian. I hadn’t really thought about being an atheist as an identity, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I identify as atheist due to my own upbringing and life experiences. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m right or wrong, and neither is anyone’s preference on religion, but that isn’t the point. The point is that we may all be human beings, but we are individuals that view the world differently and the world in turn, views us differently based on our identities. Having differences is something we should celebrate, which sounds like something out of a children's book I would be reading at Sabin, but this is the truth. The sooner we realize our differences the sooner we can begin to understand each other and understand that the world doesn’t revolve around individuals, it revolves around every single one of