“Tell me the landscape in
which you live and I will tell you who you are” (Lane, 20).
Jose Ortega implies with
this quote that the landscape where you grew up shapes the person you are
today. I struggle with this statement because I identify with many different
landscapes. My family relocates like that of military families, so I have
experienced many different cities and towns within various states across the
country. So how could the landscape I live on accurately depict all the places I
have lived? Perhaps I can answer my own question by recognizing that I would
not be who I am today without my experiences in differing landscapes. I
challenge Ortega’s statement by looking at it as a holistic lens into one’s
life. Surely, a single landscape can be the backdrop for a defining moment but
it just a moment in someone’s lifetime that the landscape defines.
Collectively, the mind creates one grand landscape of life by which one lives
out each day by. Recently, I was informed of my parent’s decision to move to
Los Angeles in pursuit of a better work position. I could not help but feel a
combination of loss and renewal. I have defined my point of reference by my
residence in Fairfax, Virginia for the past three years. The landscape, the
climate, the people, and all a part of the identity I have claimed. And now my “home”
will change, my identity defining landscapes will alter. So am I the landscape
that I currently reside in or am I all the landscapes I have lived and the
landscapes that I am destined to live?
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