We Are What We Do (standard:Editorials, 1177 words)
Author: J P St. Jullian	Added: Nov 08 2002	Views/Reads: 3594/2383	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Is there any real harm in trading our personal identities for our work identities?

We Are What We Do 

by J P St. Jullian 

During the Twentieth Century, Americans began to be identified as much,
or more, by what they do than who they are.  How many times have you 
referred to a friend, or heard people refer to friends or acquaintances 
by their professions rather than just their names?  For instance, you 
might begin a sentence by saying, “I have a friend who's a doctor, and 
he says . . . ,” or, “My friend Mike is a Systems Analyst, and he 
thinks . . .”  Then there's the “My husband's a lawyer, he should know 
. . .!” 

We are all members of diverse communities of one sort or the other. 
This membership comes from the work we do, the interaction with or the 
status we hold in the particular work communities we interact in, such 
as the medical community, the theatrical community, the computer 
community, the communications community or the scientific community.  
Whatever community we have chosen to work in and contribute to, we stay 
there because we find our sense of place there.  It's where we feel we 
belong. 

You won't find any of these communities on a map of any kind. With very
few exceptions, none of us were born into these communities.  Neither 
did any of us start up our cars, hook up a U-Haul and move into any of 
these communities.  We can't really show papers proving that we are 
card-carrying members of any of these diverse communities.  My point 
here is that these days, more often than not, people are identified by 
the addresses of their work places than by their home street addresses. 
 They are known more by what they do than by who they really are as 
human beings. 

Gone are the days when most Americans “lived” in actual neighborhoods. 
We used to be members of parishes, precincts, districts and what have 
you.  My dictionary defines community as, “A group of people living in 
the same locality and under the same government.”  Is that really true 
anymore? I suppose it is still true from a certain point of view.  
Afterall, “living,” doesn't have the same meaning for everyone. 

Of course it's true in a realistic sense, however, today fewer of us
actually do our living in that one place we call our neighborhood, or 
community.  We just use it for sleeping, showering, dressing; you know, 
the more mundane activities of our lives.  It's more like a “bedroom 
suburb” than a neighborhood.  Most of us who have resided at the same 
address on the same street for ten or twenty years, can't name the 
people who live next door, or down the street.  In fact I would go as 
far as to say that those who do not have small children as little 
“icebreakers” probably can't name over one family living on their 
street.  What's the reason?  Are we more isolated now than before? No.  
Has there been some major transfer of friendships, relationships and 
socializing in our lives? Yes.  We seem to have transferred a huge 
chunk of these facets of our lives from the realistic neighborhoods 
where we reside into the work place that has become our new 
“neighborhood.”  Many work from home, but since more of our neighbors 
work away from home, the work place has become, or is fast becoming, 
our neighborhood.  Adding to the dilemma is the fact that many bring 
their work “home” with them. 

We are relative strangers to our neighbors when we meet at the
supermarket up the block which replaced the friendly, personable little 
corner grocer, but we are well known at the coffee shops, cafeterias, 
and lunch counters situated around our work place. 

In our work place neighborhood, we share with each other a cast of
characters that are real, but not especially relevant to our personal 
lives.  People like overbearing bosses, snappish supervisors, the two 
youngsters in marketing who are “secretly” dating, and the crazy lady 
in accounting.  Is there any wonder that when employees are asked what 
they like best about work, they say it is the chatter?  By the same 
token, when many young mothers at home are asked what they miss most 
about work, they say it is the people. 

Not all of our real neighborhoods are empty places, mind you.  There are
still some vestiges of small town America where the neighborhoods and 
communities people live in are filled with friendly, caring people who 


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