“I AM WHO AM”

“I AM WHO AM”

     Yikes, did I just reference myself to be GOD? Not really, I just feel that that the question “who are you?” is best answered by no other than “The Messiah” himself.

“In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say : he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men. ”  (The Catechism of the Catholic Church 206) (Text is bold to express emphasis; otherwise not bolded in normal form.)

     Now, let’s do something fun & replace the word “God” or “YHWH” with your name, (as well as change “he” to “she” and “him” to “her” when necessary) as it should be… BLASPHEMY!?! Or is it? Now, what good would it be if everyone thought of themselves equally as being divine & mysterious? Perhaps then things such as media and perceptions of how people should look and act wouldn’t hold such high importance. I personally believe that the bible is a form of early media as it seemed to be the stepping stone which helped shaped “objective” views of women then and now.  

     Who am I, very much depends on who you ask… To these two handsome devils,

(& I mean it literally)  I am just a statistic

                                             

 (see the perforated line, for who I am).  A poor minority who’s ultimate goal & struggle is to make it to middle class & perhaps even work FOR the man one day. 

       Who am I to this guy and his people?

Well, let’s just say I’m destined for hell and sin is my middle name.

     Although I am a harsh critic of the media and the lobotomies it secretly preforms on society, I cannot help but to fall victim to its influence from time to time. Since conception, we are molded by the paintings we see, the television we watch, the books & magazines we read. It is almost inevitable not to be defined by outside sources because we rarely can define ourselves otherwise. Thankfully, at a very young age my favorite picture was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. 

http://voices.yahoo.com/platos-allegory-cave-analysis-summary-25170.html        

I believe that one day, soon, I will have access to the real world as difficult as it may seem. 

 John Berger spoke of the difference between the nude (that of being an object or a representation of) and being naked (who you are), however, do we ever really know if we see any images at all with the naked eye; without ANY preconceptions at all?

     So, who am I? I’ll forever be a little curious girl, thirsty for knowledge and truth, breaking barriers and redefining what it is to ne “normal”. Knowledge is the key to ultimate freedom and once I am free from all misconceptions of who I should be and what I should look like, I’m taking everyone with me! I will not be defined by man, media, religion or politics.   I will be what I will be and I am who I am. Here is my MALE gaze,

only, I’m no male. The only way I will be freed from being the surveyed is to be the surveyor. John Berger said “Men dream of women and women dream of men dreaming of them”, well, I dream of men dreaming of me dreaming of them.  As someone once said about me when asked who I was “you just have to know that when she was good, she was really good. And when she was bad, she was fabulous!” 

-Lili Miranda