Then... What Am I?

“Person”
4. (Philosophy) a self-conscious or rational being.
5. the actual self or individual personality of a human being...

What I know about “person”....

People feel. They can feel love. They feel hurt. They can feel angry. They can feel many many emotions.

People dream. They dream about things they wish they could do. They dream about the future. They dream about so many many things.

People think. People think about what they are. People contemplate the world around them. People think many things.

What I know about myself...

I feel. I have my own emotions that are my own, all my own, and no one else’s. I can feel happy, I can feel angry, I can feel hurt.

I dream. I have dreams of my own, all my own, and no one else’s. I dream someday being seen for who I am. I dream of beating all 3 USA Super Mario titles on the NES. I dream of not having to worry what outsiders want with me. I dream of many things.

I think. I have thoughts that are my own, all my own, and no one else’s. I think about what I am. I think about who I am. I think about why people don’t see me as me. I think about why people have to go out of their way to tell me what I’m not.

If I can do all those things, feel, dream, and think, then on what grounds do people insist I am not a person?

Outsiders say I am part of a person, but I am not. I don’t think like the person I’m supposedly part of. I don’t feel like the person I’m supposedly part of. I don’t dream like the person I’m supposedly part of.

Outsiders say I am a symptom of some horrible disorder someone has. Symptom? A runny nose doesn’t have a will to live. An itchy eye doesn’t dream of anything. A fever doesn’t feel sad when you take flue medicine.

If I’m not a person... then I ask you.... What am I?

What makes me not a person?

Jennifer Lee Combies
The JC Klatch