E Pluribus Unum

A: "Hey you know there is a guy in our apartment who looks ditto like you...slouched back..long face..and a forever-lost-in-thought frown".
B: "Interesting coincidence..You know another coincidence..there is a rabid dog in our street which recently gave birth to a litter and each one of them looks ditto like you..both appearance wise and otherwise..curious??"

The justification to such a not-so-polite response is that, it might be an over the top reaction for an harmless question. But when every tenth person you meet repeats the same it kind of gets on the nerves. That conversation made me wonder. If asked to describe in not more than ten words, how would i describe a person. For that matter even my own self. And not just that. Will that uniquely identify me? We say every person is unique in his/her own way and obviously by the looks too. But when it actually comes to putting it down in words, how do we list down the distinguishing factors? Is it the physical appearance or the behaviour in situations or their personality? Even if its a mix of all the above mentioned options, still it doesnt pick any individual alone as they are all subjective. The word "personality" originates from the Latin word persona, which means mask(Courtsey ~WikiLeaks). So whatever we identify as a personality of a person is something which is bogus and false and cannot be substantiated over every situation possible.

When a person asks "who are you" obviously they dont expect this deep an explanation but when you yourself are the one who is asking the question, guess it begs a little more detail. I went back to the original question. Who am i? First thought which came to mind was Jackie Chan ( For the benefit of Thala Ramesh..WHO AM I is a movie by Jackie Chan :) ) I got bored after a while and was reading some book when i stumbled upon the title of this post 'E Pluribus Unum'. Its the quote written in all Dollar notes, meaning "Out of many, One". That struck me as a possible answer to my question. There are trillions of currency notes abound. And almost every single one of them are ditto match of each other (including the counterfeits :) ) Still, each of them carry their value. A one dollar note might worth just that, like a zillion other notes. But still, that particular note carries the value of one dollar and nothing can take it away from it. And based on exchange rate the value rises or falls. Just like people, whose reactions in crunch situations raises or lowers their value.

I didnt felt like a million bucks, rather a dollar. But i got my answer to some extent :)

Comments

G3 said…
//Who am i? First thought which came to mind was Jackie Chan//

ROTFL :))) Reminded me of Japanla irundhu jackie chan pesaren :P :P :P

#Nostalgia #Good(or the Best???) old days :)
G3 said…
me the firsta!!! super.. vadai enakkae :)))
Ramesh said…
10 word to describe gils ?

Mokkai thilagam, Blog mannar, Fashion guru, Kollywood badshah, Periya damager !

Btw thanks about the education on Jackie Chan. Who is this worthy , may I ask ??:):)
RS said…
I think the problem is: As we are not used to talk about goodness in ourselves, we feel embarassed to answer to questions like, 'Tell me about yourself'....That is another reason I cannot write a decent testimonial for myself, cannot answer without a tinge of embarassment in interviews, because almost in every interview, you have to face this question.....
Not sure how people will agree with this answer, but the analogy between the currency denomination and human beings is great, Gils!!
Asha said…
Good correlation between dollar and human. so true..

indha who am I? kku enakkume samayathala answer theriyadu, since i am bundle of contradictions.

title enna latin aa?
gils said…
@ggg:

:)) true :) unga voice record ppanirukanum appo..semma shocked reaction :D :D

@thala:

jackie chan teriatha!!! romba kustham :)
gils said…
@athivasi:

u shd read fountain head and atlas shrugged..if not already...gummu books.
gils said…
@asha:

nt jus u..elaarukum same kanpoosan thaan..yes its latin word :)
Aarti said…
Nice post.. very true.. we all wonder if we are unique, or what is there in us that sets us apart from others!! :)

We are also not used to speaking high of ourselves, and infact at times are embarassed/awkward when we do speak...

Loved the connection between currency and human personalities Gils..:) now this is something ONLY you can do
RamNarayanS said…
LOL. Philologus Latin?

Maybe somebody is needling you too much or the long drives to/from work are making you think in all directions. :)

You may not feel like a million bucks, but a million of your neurons collaborated to think you to get that answer to your question. Nalla sindhanai.

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