"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 2.2

What is in an IDENTITY?

How do I understand it?

           What is in an identity? The identity of a person is what defines someone or something. In other words, the fact that answers who is a person and what is an object. The simplest forms that give us our identity are our names, age, occupation, date of birth. friends and many more personal information. These make us unique in a way in the world. How many can be called Kenrick Ocampo-Tan, a student in Xavier School, 17 years of age? 

           Our own identity defines us in this world, as well as how the world defines us. It seeps through how we think and how we move in our society. Our own lives revolve around our identity. The world can pin point us through our characteristics, abilities and individuality. As we go on into our lives, we slowly build our identity on earth. This process is a lifelong one. Nothing in life is easy to attain. We build it through our own experiences and our relationships with others. Our distinctiveness in the world and the simplest things that make us different are what makes up our own entity.

           As of now, I can only define myself in simplest terms. My full name is Kenrick Simon Coyiuto Ocampo-Tan. Both my last name and second name are unique since they are uniquely my family.  I am proud of my Chinese-Filipino culture.  I am a 17 year old boy who enjoys a lot of things in his life. For one, I play tennis and bowling, in fact am part of the varsity teams of Xavier School before I focused more on my studies. I also enjoy going out with my family and friends because of the stories and laughs we share with each other. I see my angkong (grandfather) as my inspiration in life but let me save that for future use.  For cliches, I am a friendly and happy kid, but what is uniquely me is my own life: how I grew up, how I learned, and how I lived my life.

          This is just one chapter of my life. I can not fully define myself right now. I still have a long way to go in search of my identity and entity. My family and friends can maybe add to my identity since every moment with them is uniquely my own experience to cherish and to learn from.

Identity: It's our basis of our entity.

         All in all, a name is actually a name. I am still the way I am even if I were to be called a different name. This is the role of identity; it defines our whole being. Our entire life is a journey in discovering our identity. Hopefully, I'll add to my identity as I go through day by day. There are still a lot of things ahead of us, so let us just prepare to accept them.