this is for the common app. topic of your choice, and i need some input on it.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
I have said this phrase almost 15 times in the past hour. That is 120 in one day, 720 in a month, and 17,280 for the past two years. To every customer I am "the girl with the blue apron" to my boss I am just another employee. But claiming to these groups and saying I identify with them has concealed everything unique about me. Between delivering numerous orders and restocking sticky syrups, a perplexing question dawned on me: who am I?
Instinctively, my first response would be very obvious. "I am Josephine Aiyeku. I am seventeen-years-old, five foot seven, and ethnically "black". Though these preconceived notions accurately describe my appearance, I am not necessarily what I appear to. My skin tone and gender do not characterize me, for I cannot be summed up by any single word or phrase.
So, exactly who am I? In all honesty, I do not know myself. To the world I am optimistic; my character as a whole defined by its benevolent qualities. I always defined myself as the girl with complex the mind. I carry the perplexing barrier between what I think and what I say. What I show and what I feel. Who I am and who I define myself to be. My mind consists of second guesses and mindless ponderings.
Occasionally I will identify myself with the people around me, saying "I am her daughter" or "he is my dad". Being half Nigerian and half Haitian, many aspects of my upbringing were governed by ethnic values. I did not live in a diverse community, still the interior of my home resembled much to the United Nations. Not only do I have a Polish brother but relatives from all parts of Canada and the United States. Being thrown in these different cultures as a child has enabled me to work and interact with people of diverse backgrounds. This unbiased outlook had played a big role in unraveling my identity. I am who I am because of the people that have surrounded me my entire life.
I barely use logic when doings things, always striving to be different. The way I make up words when I talk, stretch and yawn in the morning, and wrinkle my nose in distress, all tell me story. My philosophy of reason can be compared to the mindset of a filmmaker. Defying logic in the art of moviemaking helps keep the audience captivated. Having distinctively bold and intoxicating films opens the mind to absurdity and imagination.
My identity is in the human experience, as I have lived it. I am every word I create, every song I attempt to sing. All the people I meet and serve and every word I hear have all become a part of me. I may be musically inept, drool in my sleep, and am unable to carry a tune but it is all a part of who I am.
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