I was out taking my walk this morning when I happened upon a young man with his wife and their dog. As usual when there is a dog in the mix people become very friendly. He approached me and issued a ‘good morning’ to which I replied the same. He then told me that he was a roofer, which I found quite odd. We talked for a bit and then I proceeded on my walk.

I got to thinking about it later. Why do we tend to offer our profession as our identity. I’d like to know why that is. It would seem to me that we are much more than our profession.

I happen to be a truck driver, a draftsman, a husband, a father and numerous other titles that serve as identities. I’m not just one thing. I wear many hats in this life. I am a happy-go-lucky type of guy; not wanting to cause anyone harm. I try to avoid confrontations whenever I can but I do not back down without a reason to do so. Sometimes one must keep the peace no matter the cost to one’s pride. There are too many qualities in a person to limit them to only one.

Whoever decided that society should present each of us as our profession? When did that all come about?

Could it be that in a sparse community one identified his profession in order to be accepted as a newcomer. He could merely tell others that he was a blacksmith, and that if anyone had use of his profession he was the one they could come to. It seems plausible to me.

Maybe it is a starting place. If we have a starting place we can proceed to discover more about each other. Should the starting place fail on the first attempt there is no reason to go any farther.

Conclusion
Just maybe this guy was new to the area and used a starting place to get to know more about our community. I’m not sure.

Just thinking out loud. ;o)

Until next time…