March 29, 2007

  • The Search for Identity

    I’m doing an article on truth for a newsletter.  One of the reasons kids and people lie is because they don’t like themselves and want to be someone different. 

     “He was no longer my father.  These people, strangers, who had chosen him to be their leader, had claimed him.  He belonged to them.  I had no part in it.  I felt deserted and alone.”
    Eleanor “Nellie” Wilson daughter of President Woodrow Wilson

    [picture: Roosevelt Family, 1919]“Never again will I try to talk to Father about anything personal.” son of President Roosevelt
    He said this after trying to speak with his father, the President.  Unsuccessful he made an appointment through the proper White House chain.  The President sat through the appointment reading a     document.    

     

     

     

     

    Do you have a secure identity? 

    Let’s Play “Is that your Identity?” 

    What person is a Presidental child? 
    Susan Ford with Shan, the Ford family's Siamese cat
              Susan Ford                Jane                          Mary
    ["my sister-in-law [Margaret Hornby] before she was married"], 1831
                 Margaret                    Sally  

    What pet was a White House pet?

           Princess                                  Fido

    Picture of Buddy and the PresidentRex

     

     

    Buddy – White House Dog

     

    s81593133
          Who is this couple?            World’s tallest man gets married.   

     Who liked to say: “That’s the long and short of it” ?       Abraham Lincoln                     

Comments (35)

  • Thanks. You too.

  • i didn’t get along with my parents…..i don’t speak to my dad at all….and my mother, well, we are trying to work things out

  • I have told stupid lies before because I thought that they made me look better and then after it popped out of my mouth I thought ‘now why did I do that?’ it was just stupid. I think I’ve trained myself not to do that any more… At least I try not to. I try to live with my mistakes and like the person I’ve become…

    ang

  • Funny, our devotions at work yesterday dealt with identity.  We just need to remember as Christians, that our identity is found in Christ.   It’s not in our profession, accomplishments, possessions, or reputation.

    Have I become fully secure in my identity?  No.   Am I striving to get there?  You betcha!

  • Not yet.

    I think buddy is the presidential pet, but I would not put money on it …

  • I believe I have a secure identity, my family loves me =]

  • Its Susan and Buddy… maybe there is more than one right answer, but I know those two! LOL

    I think we have two identities… the most important being our spiritual identity, but the worldly one is there too, and it can overlap or even undermine the spiritual one if we are not careful… spiritually I am a child of God and I never doubt that… sometimes I wonder why he chose me, but I don’t dount it…. world wise, well I am secure to a great degree, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have things I am ready or willing to change… but it will come with time…

  • I guessed Mary and Buddy.

    Thanks for the congratulations!

  • Buddy is Clinton’s dog. I have know idea which child is  a president’s kid. As much as I disliked being a preacher’s kid, I figure a president’s kid has it worse.

  • Hello Randy,
    I like your site. You worked hard to make it simple yet elegant. I see that you cover many kinds of topics here!
    I like to write articles about God and religion on my site. I want to help people to really get to know God, especially in these troubled times. Jesus gave us a message of hope that is in the Bible: “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) (NLT) I hope you get a chance to look at them.

  • Hi, Thanks for visiting and commenting. **How sad that these great men were not so great in the eyes of their children. **I have to agree about one big reason for lying. Before I started living for Jesus, I was a BIG liar! I just didn’t like ME, and so I tried to make myself be someone else. Stupid. ** That picture above of Jane looks exactly one one of my relatives! WOW! My Mom has the picture in a frame. I think she was my Great Grandmother Titus. Do you know the lady Jane in your picture?

  • When I was younger I didn’t have a secure identity at all, but now that I have gotten older I think I do. It took some searching, but I have come to like the person I have become. =)

    BTW – Congratulations to you, as well! You were the only other name I recognized on the list, and I was very happy that you made it on there, too. I love your site and am happy it was recognized in that way! =)

  • Working as a manager, I find people lie to get out of trouble. The worst kind of lie is when they lie about others. They do this to deflect attention from themselves and onto someone else, to change the topic. (“Don’t look at the bad job I am doing, look at the bad job they are doing”) Once when an employee didn’t call in and didn’t show up for work, she lied that her son was in a coma in the hospital. Now in my mind, I identify her as a liar. Who knows what her true identity is.

  • Susan and Buddy… And I can’t see the last picture at work for some reason, so I’ll look at it again at home.
    I once had to acquire a secret identity for about 6 weeks. Lying, and keeping up with lies, takes a lot of work. It’s easier to tell the truth.

  • hmmm…not sure who the president’s kid is but i remember buddy as the white house dog! and that couple..most bizarre – he’s the dood that saved the dolphins and happens to be the largest human in the world or something.  weird! and his wife is only like 5’6!

  • I feel secure in my identity, more now than ever in my life before…and it grows stonger each day.  How can I not?   I pay homage and tribute for all the goodness (and am ever thankful) for the goodness of the Lord.   “With Jesus, all things are possible.”  How true this is!!!    To surrender to Him is to Trust in Him…and I do.  Despite adversity…and there is plenty of that…I know He brought me to it (His Will…and for whatever reason) I also know He will bring me from it.  I mean…I really “know” it.  I’ve experienced it many times in my life!  He and only He has restoreth my soul and I praise Him in His Glory.

  • One of the reasons kids and people lie is because they don’t like themselves and want to be someone different.

    Interesting theory. I don’t think this has been my reason for lying, personally. For me, I have lied to save face (ie responding to “does this make me look fat?” [correct answer is always: turn, look, say "i love how that it brings out the color in your eyes"] )

    …or to get out of trouble (ie “did you steal the cookie from the cookie jar” [correct answer is always: remove any incriminating evidence "we have a cookie jar?] ).

    That being said, I’m still not sure what my identity is. What does it mean to have an identity? Does it define who you are? Does who we are define what we believe or vice-versa?

  • I know buddy, my aunt has a chocolate lab named buddy..  and Mary?

  • Susan Ford, Buddy (clinton?) and Mr and Mrs Bao Xishun!!!

  • I think we “lie” because we don’t want people to see who we really are.  However, the “lie” is false and the “truth” is the real thing and it always surfaces, one way or the other, and ashamedly, we are seen for not only “who” we are, but “what” we are. 

  • Ya know, those two quotes up there really make ya think.  Being a parent is so much more than making sure they have a roof over their head, clothes on their backs, and food in their bellies.  It’s about being there for them, listening to them, and sticking up for them.  A wise woman once told me that if we don’t stick up for our kids, who will?

  • That looks like Susan Ford and, of course, the dog is Buddy.

  • susan and buddy and the new couple of the world………most “high”lighted couple!!!

    Deanna

  • Regarding your last post: My computer is…a nazi!!  LOL  I so agree w/the lying to be someone different.  Before I got saved, I had basically adopted a whole different persona–who I thought people would like and be attracted to.  Thank God I found my true identity in Christ!  PTL  Take care & God bless.

  • Haha maybe your wife and I should trade couches and then we will both have a new one!!!lol

    Deanna

  • When I was younger I took a job selling magazines across Canada.  I got the nickname “Wheels” for some reason.  Everyone that started working with me asked me why and I would tell them because I was a stock car driver.  I quit because my best friend got injured badly.  It is total fabrication as I don’t even have my license.  LOL.  It always amazed me how many people believed me.

  • mary, buddy, who knows! LOL

  • Susan and Buddy  and that last one, the guy is the world’s naturally tallest guy in the world.  My friend Scott is 7’2″

  • Oh my gosh!! we just had city clean up this week and guess whos brush they left??you got it>mine!.hahaha

  • Everytime I read your comments on my site..I see your little puppets and they make me laugh!! Like they are laughing too!!………..No I’m not crazy,it just seems that way!

    Deanna

  • You mean being secure in my identity, like being a Lieutenant Colonel and calling myself, “The Colonel”????

    I voted for you on Dan’s site…

  • i don’t think most people do have a secure identity. i think between the ages of 13 – 30 we are not sure of who we are and what we want to be. if we don’t know what we want to be then how are secure? are we going to be doctors? artists? business men and women? when we change we take on this “label” and thus that become part of us, part of out identity.

    with humans we are always changing. we might be single one day then coupled the next. this is also an identity. being a mother, a father….

    and i think because the world is so complicated we keep on trying to make sense of it by lying to make things look better than they really are.

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  • i like the topic. thinking about this makes me want to say something profound. Not happening today. i stuggle to much with it.

  • i won’t even claim have problems with self injury, but this is still interesting.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHgZnRirxtI

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