journal entry: what’s in your wallet?
What do the contents of a wallet, planner, backpack, purse or pockets reveal about a person’s identity. Imagine how your life would be thrown into disorder if you lost your wallet. How would such a loss affect your ability to function normaly–at least until you could replace the lost items? In many ways, our wallets and purses represent our identity to the world. Many of us carry several forms of identification in a wallet or purse: gym memberships, driver’s licenses, library cards, ATM cards, video store cards, club memberships school IDs, coffee club cards, discount cards, and credit cards. Even wallet-sized photos identify our families and friends.
This is the nature of identification, yet most people do not connect their identification to their sense of identity . After all, what do all of these pocket-sized pieces of plastic and paper really say about us? They identify us to others like bank tellers, librarians, and sales clerks so that we can make transactions. They help label us to others. Yet each item has a story to tell about our identities at different times in our lives.
How do the contents tell a story?What stories could someone piece together about you based solely on an examination of your wallet and its contents? You’re about to find out.
Empty your wallet, purse, backpack, pockets, planner or at least look through all of the items contained there. Write a profile about yourself using only your wallet or purse and its contents to reprsent your life. Your profile should answer the following questions:
- Taken separately or together, how do the contents of your wallet construct an image of your identity?
- What assumptions might someone make about your personality, values, identity based on what you carry in your wallet?
- Re-read what you wrote and then consider: if all they had to go on is your wallet, what would people miss or be unable to know about you?
Posted: January 16th, 2008 under daily notes.
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