My Fluid Identity

Imagine attending Vacation Bible School every summer only to have a Bat Mitzvah when you turn thirteen. These contrasting ways of life are my normal. My mom, born in 1957, was raised in a small town in northern Minnesota. My dad, on the other hand, was born in 1938 in what is now Israel. While my mom grew up as a devout Christian living a typical suburban life in the Midwest, my dad grew up speaking Hebrew, practicing Judaism, and hiding in bomb shelters during World War II. This might explain why it’s been an ongoing process to figure out who I am and what’s really important to me, however over the last few years I have begun to understand my fluid identity. I consider myself a bit of a chameleon. I have a lot of interests, ranging from competitive tennis to orchestra to international community service.
People who have seen me playing the violin in my formal concert attire might be surprised to find out that I spent two weeks last summer covered in dirt, concrete, and sweat while building a school in Laos. Likewise, if you watch me playing soccer, you might never guess that getting dressed up for school dances is one of my favorite activities. I sometimes even surprise myself. When I ventured to Costa Rica, I became really invested in the community service program and discovered that I could be much more outgoing than I ordinarily was. Although my high school French wasn’t very useful, I still tried to communicate with the children and locals, even if it meant making a fool of myself. In the end, my carefree disposition made me realize how much I liked this unreserved part of myself that I rarely let new friends see. With my newfound confidence, I next enrolled in a class focusing on the sustainability and history of New York City at Columbia University.
Normally unsure of being alone, I was content just grabbing a book in my free time and relaxing in Central Park by myself. Not even getting miserably lost on a bike ride could stop me from wanting to continue to put myself in new unfamiliar situations. I now look forward to moving on from the comfortable atmosphere of my small high school and leaving my twin sister behind to form my own identity independently in college. What I have also discovered about myself is that I’m interested, and I mean really interested, in a myriad of things ranging from marketing to kinesiology to dermatology. I think this is because I know I could be happy and fulfilled doing a lot of different things. Throughout my childhood, I have been equally engaged in contrasting activities like learning how to fish on Leech Lake in Minnesota and learning about the harsh realities of the war my dad faced as a child. Although I am knowledgeable about the values my parents and community have instilled in me, I am eager to expand my
worldview. There are so many things I want to study and places I want to explore that I can’t say I have a specific game plan. I look at my father’s journey to America with $200 in his pocket and how he turned it into a successful business, and I know firsthand that anything is possible. What I realize now is that I’m excited to try new things, stumble along the way, and get back up again until I find the path that will give me personal fulfillment. Although I’m not exactly sure what that will be, I want to merge what I already know with the countless life lessons I will learn at college and beyond to give back to the community around me, and I am confident enough now to know that I will.