Who is the "I" in the "I?"

There is a puzzle in the front page of the current Quest,  Marjorie Skwire is quoting Howard Mansfied:

"I know a farmer who says he has had the same ax his whole life. . . .he has only changed the handle three times and the head two times. Does he still have the same ax?"

This question could be applied to us.  As we grow and change we tend to put on, and take off identities as if they were clothing.   I was my mother's boy, my father's son, a school child, a football player, a scout leader, a Liberal Religious Youth, a young radical, a trade union organizer, a college teacher, a community organizer, a married man, a divorcee, again a married man, and now a widower.  I was young, middle aged, and now I am called an elder, and I get discounts once again.  

I once was called a "half breed,"  and that hurt.  I now call myself an Indian and proud.  Since the merger of the Unitarians and the Universalists, I have been a Unitarian Universalist but that is a very elastic identity, since it has contained a lot of different theological understandings and spiritual practices as I have grown and changed.  Oh yes, I wrote a lot of reflection papers back in theological school as I acquired my "ministerial identity."  I guess that being clergy has become part of who I am.

I eat like a vegan, and check that box of when I go to a retreat, but I support indigenous hunting and fishing rights.  I vote Democratic, but call myself an Independent.  

Of course, the person changes as our identities change, especially as we become more aware of our  selves and less subject to the definitions of others.

Howard Mansfield who possed the question:

"Does the farmer have the same ax?  Yes...he possesses the same ax even more than a neighboring farmer who may have never repaired his own ax.  To remake a thing correctly is to discover its essence."

In the era of European world conquest and colonialism and its aftermath we have experienced the imposition of the concept of race.  While race is a social construction, not a biological fact, race nevertheless becomes part of our understanding of who the "I" is in the "I."   We can say for most people in the United States "race" helps to define them,  yet it is possible to become aware of how this social construction called "race" functions, and join in deconstructing racism.  In subsequent entries,  I will continue to reflect on the subject of identity and race.